ISLAMABAD: The apex court on Tuesday was requested to place review petitions before the same bench, which heard the petitions of Justice Qazi Faez Isa and bar councils and associations against the presidential reference.
A seven-member bench comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik, Justice Faisal Arab, Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, and Justice Qazi Mohammad Amin will take up the review petitions today (Wednesday). The members of the bench are the same who gave the majority judgment.
The seven judges had quashed the reference but ordered the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman to furnish a report containing the details of the proceedings conducted by the Inland Revenue commissioner after seeking explanation from the wife and children of Justice Isa about three properties in the UK to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) secretary.
On the receipt of the report, the SJC may determine to initiate any action/proceedings for the purposes of Article 209 of the Constitution, in its suo motu jurisdiction, the judgment added.
The Supreme Court Bar Association, the Quetta Bar Association, the Punjab Bar Council, and the Balochistan Bar Council, on Tuesday filed an application for adjournment and hearing of the matter by a 10-member bench.
The application of the presidents and vice-chairmen of the associations and bar councils stated that the petitions were heard by a 10-judge bench, but the review petitions are fixed before a bench comprising seven judges.
"It would be in the interest of justice that the review petitions are fixed before the same bench which heard the main petitions as mandated in Rule 8 of Order XXVI of Supreme Court Rules, 1980. It is the practice of the apex court that the review petitions are fixed before the same bench as for as practicable as provided under Order XXVI Rule 8 of the Supreme Court Rules, 1980," said the application.
They requested the court to adjourn the case to other date in the interest of justice.
The review petitions seeking to revisit paragraphs 3 to 11 of June 19, 2020 short order.
They argued that the directions/observations or contents of paragraphs 3 to 11 were unnecessary, superfluous, contradictory, excessive and unlawful and thus, liable to be deleted, since it constituted "mistake" and "error" on the face of the record, and were thus liable to be reviewed and deleted.
According to the paragraphs 13 to 14 of the order, Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, and Justice Yahya Afridi had quashed the presidential reference against Justice Isa as a result of which the proceedings along with the show cause notice issued by the SJC against Justice Isa also stood abated.
In her petition, Ms Isa had also sought a stay since, what she stated, the FBR commissioners were proceeding with indecent haste against her.
She argued that the terms "offshore evader" and "offshore assets" were introduced for the first time by the Finance Act, 2019, published on June 30, 2019.
The petitioner pleaded that she had declared the three offshore properties in her tax returns for the tax year 2018 and 2019, after the change of law requiring them to be so declared, and has till date not received a single notice in respect of either tax year or in respect of her returns.
The detailed majority judgment that was authored by Justice Bandial had held that President Arif Alvi did not form a considered opinion under Article 209(5) of the constitution and therefore, the presidential reference against Justice Isa suffered with multiple defects.
According to the detailed ruling, the respondents illegally accessed the tax records of Justice Isa.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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