Suo moto only for CJP: top court quashes Justice Isa's journalist harassment case

ISLAMABAD: Hearing the proceedings on journalist harassment case taken up by Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the five-member larger bench has determined the jurisdiction on suo moto notices and decided only the Chief Justice of Pakistan has the authority, ARY News reported.

The top court’s five-member bench headed by the acting Chief Justice of Pakistan  (CJP) Umar Atta Bandial has withdrawn the suo moto notice taken up by Justice Isa determining that only the CJP himself can take cognizance of the matter using the Constitutional prerogative.

He said the chief justice of the bench can only recommend the suo moto notice to the CJP. The court decided that while also laying down the grounds and remits of suo moto once and for all.

The five-member Supreme Court bench headed by the acting Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) was set up to determine the grounds and authority of the suo moto cases in the backdrop of Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s cognizance of journalists’ harassment matter.

The larger bench today has thus directed the press association to submit its plea before the chief justice and only after his approval it can proceed.

Justice Isa’s letter suggests divides within top judiciary, AGP tells court

Yesterday, Justice Isa wrote a letter raising concerns that monitoring amongst benches would doom the justice system.

The two-member bench hearing journalist harassment case was not intimated ahead of constituting a five-member bench to monitor the adjudication,  Justice Isa underscored.

Justice Isa wrote to the apex court after the five-member bench was constituted to provide clarity in respect of invocation of the court’s suo motu jurisdiction.

He said the bench continuing the hearing on the journalist harassment case taken up originally by the two-member bench was a violation of the Constitution.

He said the bench hearing the case was in violation of the Constitution after it restrained implementation of the decision of the two-member bench he headed over the journalist harassment case.

Judiciary will collapse if Benches begin monitoring each other: Justice Isa