The Supreme Court of Pakistan will examine the federal government’s appeal to withdraw the government’s curative review petition against a court order that had previously accepted review petitions challenging the court’s June 19, 2020 judgment.
The judgment allowed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to investigate the assets of Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s family about a presidential reference filed against the judge.
In the past, the registrar’s office had returned nine curative review petitions filed by the PTI-led government on May 25, 2021. The office cited the use of “scandalous language” and other deficiencies in the petitions as reasons for their return. However, the Supreme Court office also stated that filing a second review petition against an already reviewed decision was not permissible.
As a result, the federal government lodged an appeal before the Supreme Court against the registrar’s office’s refusal to consider the curative review petition in Justice Isa’s case. However, on March 30, the PDM government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif decided to withdraw the curative review reference and not pursue the matter further. The federal cabinet had already approved this decision.
An official statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office mentioned that the premier had directed Law Minister Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar to withdraw the curative review reference against Justice Qazi Faiz Isa. The statement also revealed that PM Shehbaz regarded the reference as a “vengeful action” by former Prime Minister Imran Khan against a fair-minded judge who upheld the Constitution and the law.
The premier further claimed that the reference was a malicious attempt to undermine the independence of the judiciary. He acknowledged that the PML-N and its allied parties had opposed the “false reference” even when they were in the opposition. PM Shehbaz accused former premier Imran Khan of misusing the constitutional office of the president for this “criminal act.”
The PTI-led federal government had filed a reference against Justice Isa and Sindh High Court judge Justice K K Agha in May 2019, accusing them of not disclosing their families’ foreign assets in their wealth statements. However, in June 2020, the Supreme Court quashed the presidential reference and the subsequent SJC proceedings that were initiated based on it.
In April 2022, former premier Imran Khan admitted that filing a presidential reference for the removal of Justice Isa was a “mistake.”
