SCBA files petition against inquiry commission on audio leaks

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) secretary has filed a petition against the inquiry commission on the audio leaks in the top court, ARY News reported on Thursday.

The SCBA secretary stated in the petition that the formation of the audio leaks inquiry commission was a violation of Articles 9, 14, 18, 19 and 25.

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

The petitioner 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 influence the Supreme Court (SC) proceedings.

READ: AUDIO LEAKS COMMISSION SUMMONS EX-CJP SAQIB NISAR’S SON, OTHERS

It added that the audio recordings are being leaked on social media in a specific procedure but the commission neglected the audio status during its proceeding and it did not instruct the attorney general to find out the actual source of the leaked audio conversations nor notices were served to those who recorded the audio.

The petitioner pleaded with the Supreme Court (SC) to nullify the audio leak commission and its rulings. The Centre, inquiry commission, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) were made parties in the case.

‘Judicial commission’

Earlier, the federal government 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.

READ: AUDIO LEAKS COMMISSION GETS TRANSCRIPTS OF CALLS

The other members of the judicial commission include Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Islamabad High Court (IHC) CJ Aamer Farooq. The commission has been directed to complete the task within 30 days.

Later, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan challenged the audio leaks judicial commission in the Supreme Court.

Imran Khan in his plea asked the Supreme Court to strike down the audio leaks commission, citing no judge can be nominated for the commission without the consent of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP).

The only forum to launch a probe against a judge is Supreme Judicial Council, the plea stated.

The commission head announces that the proceedings would be made public and instructed the Attorney General to provide mobile phones and sims.