Former Islamabad High Court judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui on Monday filed an appeal against the objections that the Supreme Court registrar’s had raised on his petition challenging his dismissal by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).
On October 11, the SJC had recommended Siddiqui’s removal after finding him guilty of misconduct over a controversial speech he had delivered in July before the Rawalpindi District Bar Association. The recommendation was soon adopted and enforced by President Arif Alvi.
Last week, Siddiqui had attempted to file a petition against his sacking, but his petition was turned down by the SC registrar.
One of the trio of objections raised by the SC registrar was “that the petitioner is invoking extraordinary jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution for the redressal of an individual grievance, which is not permissible in terms of judgment reported as 1998 SCMR 793 titled as Zulfiqar Mehdi Vs PIA etc”.
Siddiqui today challenged the objections, claiming that “this is a case of common welfare” and that “the Supreme Court has had ruled in these nature of cases under Section 3 of the Article 184.”
“The Iftikhar Chaudhry case precedent is also present in this regard,” the former judge stated in his appeal.
Siddiqui, in his appeal, demands that “the SC registrar’s objections be set aside and his case be heard in open court.”
