SC fixes for hearing case seeking withdrawal of curate review against Justice Isa

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court has fixed for hearing a case seeking the withdrawal of a curative review filed against Senior Puisne Judge Qazi Faez Isa.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial will conduct an in-chamber hearing of the plea on April 10.

The government, on April 1, had approached the country’s top court to withdraw the curative petition filed against the Supreme Court judge last week. The curative review was filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government after the presidential reference was dismissed in 2021.

Dubbing it an act of state-led vengeance by the former PTI-led regime, the government stated that it wants to withdraw the appeal filed against the judgment of the country’s top court.

“The government does not want to pursue this case,” the petition read seeking withdrawal of the case while considering the requirements of justice after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced the government's decision to call off the review against Justice Isa.

"On my direction, the government has decided to withdraw the Curative Review Petition against senior most Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Qazi Faez Isa," the premier wrote in his tweet.

PM Shehbaz said that the curative review was based on the ill will to "harass and intimidate" Justice Isa at his predecessor's (Imran Khan) "behest".

A separate statement issued by the PM Office shared that a cabinet meeting chaired by the premier had already given assent to taking back the reference. It added that Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar has been directed by the PM to take back the curative plea.

The federal cabinet, in July last year, had approved the withdrawal of the curative review petition.

In 2021, the Imran Khan-led government filed a curative review petition against the order of the majority in the review petitions of Justice Qazi Faez Isa passed on April 26 of the same year.

However, the registrar of the Supreme Court returned the instant petition after raising objections to it, saying that once the review petition is decided, it cannot be reviewed.