Only Supreme Judicial Council can handle misconduct allegations against superior judiciary: PAK SC

Islamabad, Sep 24 (PTI): Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that only the Supreme Judicial Council can deal with the allegations of misconduct against judges of the superior judiciary.

The apex court on Tuesday issued a detailed verdict in a case about the contempt proceedings against Additional Registrar Supreme Court, Nazar Abbas, according to the document released on the court’s website on Wednesday.  Three top court judges had initiated contempt proceedings in January for not fixing a case regarding the jurisdiction of regular benches, but the latest ruling settled the issue of contempt against judges of the Supreme and high courts.

The judgment authored by Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail stated that by virtue of holding a constitutional position, sub-article (5) of Article 199 of the Constitution granted immunity to the supreme court and high court judges for acts performed within their judicial and administrative capacity, the document revealed.

“The constitutional scheme of immunity to the judges of the superior courts is to secure the independence of the judiciary, which is the command of Article 2A [Objectives Resolution to form part of substantive provisions] of the Constitution,” it said.  The ruling said that it is for this reason that a judge of the same court cannot issue any kind of writ, nor can they take any action against another judge of the same court.

It further stated that the superior judiciary were generally protected by judicial immunity for their judicial work and administrative functions, but this protection did not shield them from the consequences for misconduct.

It added that allegations of misconduct against superior court judges could only be dealt with under Article 209, which pertains to the powers of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), a constitutional body empowered to hear complaints against judges of the supreme and high courts.

Consequently, the court declared the contempt proceedings null and void and set aside all related orders. PTI SH RD RD RD