By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday accepted review petitions filed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa and his wife Sarina Isa.
The ten-member bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandia, handed a split 6-4 verdict. The bench earlier today reserved the verdict after all parties to the case concluded their arguments.
The majority decision from the top court said that no action could be taken against the wife and children of Justice Qazi Faez Isa after the apex court withdrew its direction to send Sarina Isa’s case to the FBR.
Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik and Justice Mazhar Alam MianKhel retracted from their decision to send the cases to the FBR in the review petition as previously they supported the decision of referring Sarina Isa’s cases to the tax body.
A new member of the bench, Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan also supported the review petition. On October 23, the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) on Friday issued the detailed verdict in Justice Qazi Faez Isa case and declared a Presidential reference sent against the apex court judge as unconstitutional. The Supreme Court (SC) on June 19, dismissed the presidential reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa after declaring it ‘invalid’. The detailed verdict released by the apex court nullified the presidential reference against Justice Isa and termed the reference as a violation of the law and the Constitution.
The judgment stated that the presidential reference filed against Justice Isa was in violation of the law and the Constitution. “The worthy President grossly failed to exercise his discretion as mandated under the Constitution and, thus, the entire process built thereon leading to the filing of the Reference was in violation of the law and the Constitution,” the verdict read. “There was no evidence that Justice Isa had violated the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act and even the relevant provisions from the said law were not specified in the Reference.”
According to the judgment, the court’s decision to direct the Federal Board of Revenue to commence tax proceedings against Sarina Isa and her children was based on two grounds: to establish that Judges of the Superior Court are answerable for allegations casting aspersions not only on their personal integrity but also on the integrity of the institution; and to honour the petitioner’s plea that the allegation of the absence of source of funds and money laundering must be first put to Sarina Isa, who is an independent taxpayer.
