Despite government protests, the SC continues hearing petitions against the Audio Leak Commission today.

ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court will continue hearing petitions Imran Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, and others filed against an investigative panel established by the federal government to look into audio recordings that purportedly included judges.

At 12:15 PM today (Wednesday), a five-judge panel presided over by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and made up of Justices Ijazul Ahsan, Munib Akhtar, Justice Shahid Waheed, and Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi will hear the case.

The federal government objected to three of the justices — Justices Bandial, Ahsan, and Munib — hearing the case, arguing that they should not do so. A new bench has been requested to hear the matter.

As justification for one of the audio leaks, the federal government claimed that there was a conflict of interest since it implicated Justice Ahsan and Justice Akhtar as well as Chief Justice Bandial’s mother-in-law.

The application asserts that no judge may consider a matter involving a relative because of prior court rulings and the judges’ rule of conduct. When hearing the case of Arsalan Iftikhar in the past, former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had removed himself from the bench.

SC halts justice operations Commission headed by Isa

The Supreme Court ordered last week that the Audio Leaks Commission’s proceedings be suspended in response to pleas submitted by Imran Khan and others. The ruling, which placed a strong emphasis on the separation of powers, said that “a constitutional principle of the utmost importance had, prima facie, been breached” in light of the Federal Government’s apparent use of unilateral action in this case.

Accordingly, “the operation of the impugned notification… issued by the Federal Government is suspended until the next date of hearing, as is the order made by the Commission, and as a result, proceedings of the Commission are stayed,” the judgement said.

Justice Isa halted the case

The panel, which was led by Justice Faez Isa of the Supreme Court and also included Chief Justices Naeem Akhtar Afghan of the Balochistan High Court and Aamer Farooq of the Islamabad High Court, halted further action the next day. Justice Isa commented that they had been prevented from continuing the procedure without even receiving a notification from them.

The federal government had earlier established a three-member panel to look into the leaked audios that were said to include the judiciary, previous chief justices, and a judge. The administration claimed that the talks had raised concerns about the impartiality of judges.