Judicial Commission stops probe into audio leaks after SC order

ISLAMABAD: A three-member judicial commission, led by Justice Qazi Faez Isa, stopped probe into the multiple audio leaks pertaining to the judiciary after the apex court order, ARY News reported on Saturday.

A five-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial had stopped proceedings of the judicial commission on Friday and suspended the notification issued by the federal government.

The court issued its ruling on the petitions against the judicial commission on audio leaks constituted by the federal government and issued notices to the parties.

The bench — headed by CJP Bandial, comprising Justice Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shahid Waheed.

The Attorney General presented the ruling of the five-member bench of the supreme court in the second session of the judicial commission headed by Supreme Court senior puisne judge Qazi Faez Isa.

The judicial commission stopped its proceedings, “We will issue an order of the proceedings of the commission held today,” Justice Isa said. “I apologize the witnesses appeared in the commission today,” he said.

Earlier, in the session of the judicial commission, Justice Faiz Isa said,” We have to do some works, which we don’t like but bound to do according to the oath”. “We have to perform this painful probe. Now we will be accused of violating the constitution in talk shows,” Justice Isa observed.

Justice Faez Isa said that the commission was constituted under the Inquiry Act. “We were entrusted a responsibility under the law, it might be a difficult task to the commission. Can we refuse a difficult task given under the law and our oath,” the top judge questioned.

“Mr. Attorney General, we regret, it is judicial order of the supreme court, we could not continue further,” Justice Isa addressing the AG said.

The petitions were filed against the commission in the apex court by the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Abid Zuberi, SCBA Secretary Muqtedir Akhtar Shabbir, PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Advocate Riaz Hanif Rahi.

The petitioners stated that the Constitution does not allow phone tapping of citizens and whether the inquiry commission would give any order without ascertaining the source of the audio recordings.

It further said that the affairs of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) were interfered with by the constitution of the inquiry commission and the recent audio leaks were tantamount to influencing the Supreme Court proceedings.

All four petitions seek to declare the constitution of the audio commission as illegal.

The federal government had formed a three-member judicial commission, led by Supreme Court senior puisne judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa, to probe the multiple audio leaks pertaining to the judiciary.

The other members of the judicial commission include Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Islamabad High Court CJ Aamer Farooq.