ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) — the only constitutional forum that can examine the conduct of superior court judges and recommend their removal — has dropped proceedings against a sitting judge of the Sindh High Court (SHC).

Source privy to the development told Dawn that the proceedings were initiated on a reference moved against the high court judge. But the SJC, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, had decided to drop the inquiry.

The last time SJC held its proceedings was May 25. The high court judge had earlier been asked to appear before the council on March 7, after which a show cause notice was also issued to him to explain his position.

The SJC is established under Article 209 of the Constitution and tasked with inquiring into allegations levelled against judges of the Supreme Court and different high courts over alleged misconduct or inability to perform their duties for reasons of mental or physical incapacity.

Under Article 209(8), the SJC also issues a code of conduct to ensure that judges of the superior judiciary operate at the highest moral and ethical standards, so that all citizens have access to justice from independent and impartial courts.

Reacting to the closing of proceedings against the SHC judge, senior Pakistan Bar Council member (PBC) Raheel Kamran Sheikh — who had earlier filed a petition before the Supreme Court to make public the number of references against superior court judges — said the SJC ought to make public a summary of the allegations and the reasons for exoneration.

It was imperative for the SJC to introduce some level of transparency in the process, he said.

Since the process of judges’ accountability envisaged under Article 209 of the Constitution was essentially a process of “self-accountability”, it was of utmost importance that the people of Pakistan should have complete faith and confidence in it, he said.

Earlier, a senior SJC member had excused himself from hearing a reference against a sitting judge of the Lahore High Court (LHC).

Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, also a member of the five-judge SJC, had recused from the council citing personal reasons, but emphasised that he had no personal bias against the judge.

Khawaja Haris Ahmed, who appeared on behalf of the sitting LHC judge, had raised strong objections on Justice Khosa’s presence in the SJC.

The reference was initiated on the basis of a Jan 2014 judgement, where the Supreme Court had taken exception to the way the judge entertained a bail application of an accused and described it as a “colourable exercise of jurisdiction”.

This had also compelled the apex court to develop guidelines, to be followed in future by all the high court judges and magistrates while granting bail in criminal cases.

The SJC has also dismissed a request by an Islamabad High Court judge for an open trial. In its order, the council stated that it was in the larger interest of judiciary that proceedings were not conducted in open court, since the issue brought before the SJC and the allegations levelled may ultimately prove false, frivolous or vexatious.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2017