Full court reference for outgoing CJP Isa on Oct 25

ISLAMABAD: A full court reference has been summoned on October 25 for outgoing Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, the Supreme Court’s registrar confirmed in a letter.

“The full court reference has been scheduled in Court Room No.1, Supreme Court Building, Islamabad on October 25 (Friday),” SC registrar Jazeela Aslam wrote to Supreme Court Bar Association President Shahzad Shaukat.

Senior Puisne judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah is set to replace CJP Isa as the country’s top judge.

The full court reference is a customary practice to bid farewell to the outgoing chief justice.

The confirmation follows weeks of political uncertainty, with rumours suggesting that the ruling coalition was planning to extend the chief justice’s tenure through a ‘closely-guarded’ judiciary-centric legislation.

However, the government failed to even table the amendments in parliament after JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman refused to support the government's judicial package, leaving the contentious amendments hanging in the balance.

Ostensibly, the government was short of 13 votes in the National Assembly and nine in the Senate as the said legislation requires a two-thirds majority in both houses.

Amid speculations, CJP Isa clarified that he would not accept any "individual specific" proposal on fixing the tenure of the country's top judge.

Reacting to the CJP's statement "misreported" in the media, CJP’s Secretary Muhammad Mushtaq Ahmad had clarified last month that the top judge was surrounded by journalists who spoke to him and asked him questions following the commencement of the proceedings of the event to mark judicial year.

“The Chief Justice made it clear that he was talking to them off the record, but since the conversation has been misinterpreted and widely disseminated it is necessary to accurately reproduce what transpired,” the statement added.

The chief justice informed the journalists that he told the law minister, "if the proposal was individual specific, and if enacted, it would not be something he would accept".

A brief profile

Justice Isa became the 29th top judge of the country when he took the oath as CJP in September 2023.

Born on October 26, 1959, in Quetta, Justice Isa is the son of the late Qazi Mohammad Isa of Pishin, who was at the forefront of the Pakistan movement, and the grandson of Qazi Jalaluddin, who was the prime minister of Khanate of Kalat in the pre-partition India.

In his early years, Justice Isa was a part of the Bar of England and Wales in the 1980s and was enrolled as an advocate of the Supreme Court from Balochistan.

He has practiced law for over 27 years before all the high courts, the Federal Shariat Court and the SC.

Later, he also served as a member of the Balochistan High Court Bar Association, Sindh High Court Bar Association, and Life Member of the Supreme Court Bar Association, and chief justice of Balochistan during different periods.

When called upon by the high courts and the top court, the jurist rendered his services as amicus curiae and also conducted international arbitrations.

He is a strong advocate of adherence to the Constitution and the rule of law, which is reflected in his judgements.

The senior jurist is also the founder of a system of transparent induction of officials and officers in high courts via advertisement.

On September 5, 2014, Justice Isa took oath as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.