Justice Qazi Faez Isa says shocked over media release of Feb 11 order

ISLAMABAD: Qazi Faez Isa of the Supreme Court has expressed shock at the release of February 11 order to the media in violation of a settled practice.

In a letter addressed to the Supreme Court registrar on February 12, Justice Isa said that he was yet to receive the order in which he was removed from a bench that hears a case against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“I have learnt that an order/judgment (don’t know which one) was passed and released to the media. This is shocking, as yet, I have not received the file with the order/judgment,” Justice Isa said.

It is a settled practice that after the judge heading the bench writers the order/judgment, it is set to the next senior judge.

The judge asked the secretary to explain why the judgment wasn’t sent to him and why it was released to media before received it and who ordered it release to the media.

On Thursday, Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed said that Justice Qazi Faez Isa “should not hear matters involving the prime minister” in a written order on a petition pertaining to allegations that the premier distributed development funds among lawmakers.

The top judge said that since Justice Isa had, in personal capacity, filed a petition against PM Imran Khan, it “would not be proper” for the former to hear cases involving the PM in order “to uphold the principle of un-biasness and impartiality”.

“It would be in the interest of justice that the honourable Judge [Justice Isa] should not hear matters involving the Prime Minister of Pakistan,” the written order reads.

These remarks came after the order highlighted that Justice Isa had raised questions over federal and provincial governments’ insistence that funds had not been doled out to ministers or members of assemblies.