CJP hosts dinner for his colleagues to end ‘differences’

ISLAMABAD: Senior Puisne judge of the Supreme Court Qazi Faez Isa “skipped” Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial’s dinner for his colleagues aimed at “ending differences” among the judges, sources told Geo News on Tuesday.

According to sources, apart from Justice Isa, all the 14 judges of the top court attended the dinner. Officials, who spoke to Geo News on condition of anonymity, shared that chief justices host dinners after every Eid but this one was actually arranged to bridge differences that have grown recently. There has been a visible divide in the Supreme Court during CJP Bandial’s tenure. CJP Bandial has been under criticism for sidelining senior judges of the Supreme Court and “fixing benches”. The sidelining of Justice Isa from important cases has been noticed by many observers and analysts who are of the view that it has divided the top court. Furthermore, the rift between the two judges also came out in the open when a judgment of Justice Isa about suo motu was disregarded by the CJP via a circular. Justice Isa, in one of his verdicts, called for the clipping of CJP’s powers on suo motu, which was dismissed by CJP Bandial via a circular. However, a six-member bench was formed that overruled the order passed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa.