Judicial Counsel dismisses references against former NAB chief as inadmissible

SJC issues show-cause notice to Justice Mazahar Naqvi,

Islamabad_The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has dismissed the references against the former chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Justice (r) Javed Iqbal as inadmissible,

Sources said that the Supreme Judicial Council was not a forum for inquiry at the time the reference was filed against former NAB chairman Javed Iqbal.

They added that the NAB law amendments, the forum for complaints against the NAB chairman is the Supreme Judicial Council.

The references against the former NAB chief were filed in 2019. After the amendments, the Supreme Judicial Council can review the complaints.

The sources said that the Supreme Judicial Council meeting chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faiz Isa reviewed the complaints against Supreme Court judge Justice Mazahir Naqvi and former chairman NAB Justice Retired Javed Iqbal.

SJC issued a show-cause notice to Supreme Court judge Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi over the complaints registered against him.

According to the media reports, the show-cause notice was served after the SJC met under the chairmanship of Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa. The other members comprise senior judges of the apex court – Justice Tariq Masood and Justice Ijazul Ahsan.

The judge has been asked to submit his reply by November 10.

The chief justice had summoned the SJC meeting a day earlier to discuss complaints filed against superior court judges.

This was the first meeting of the SJC under CJP Isa and was convened after a gap of over 3 years.

SJC is the only constitutional forum that has power to remove judges of superior courts on different charges.

Justice Masood, senior judge of the Supreme Court and member of SJC, had submitted his legal opinion on the misconduct complaints filed against SC judge Naqvi in September this year.