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Iftikhar Chaudhry

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[[Image:rfuhmryj,fryujr Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (Template:Lang-ur) (born December 12 1948) was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan from 2005 to 2007. On March 9, 2007 he was suspended by General Pervez Musharraf on charges of misconduct.[1] He is currently under effective house arrest.[2] The suspension of Chaudhry marks the first time in the history of Pakistan that a Supreme Court chief justice is suspended on charges of misuse of power. The court under Chief Justice Chaudhry made rulings against government level corruption which included the Pakistan Steel Mills case.

Career in Law

Chaudhry has a Bachelors in Arts and Bachelors in Law (LLB). He joined the bar in 1974. Later, he was enrolled as Advocate of the High Court in 1976 and as an Advocate of the Supreme Court in 1985. In 1989 he was appointed as Advocate General, Balochistan, and later got elevated as Additional Judge, Balochistan High Court in November 6,1990 until April 21, 1999. Besides remaining as Judge High Court, he discharged duties as Banking Judge, Judge Special Court for Speedy Trials, Judge Customs Appellate Courts as well as Company Judge. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry also remained President of High Court Bar Association, Quetta, and was elected twice as Member, Bar Council. Later, he was appointed as Chairman, Balochistan Local Council Election Authority in 1992 and thereafter for second term in 1998. He also worked as Chairman, Provincial Review Board for the province of Balochistan. He was twice appointed as Chairman, Pakistan Red Crescent Society, Balochistan. At present, Justice Iftikhar is also functioning as Chairman, Enrollment Committee of Pakistan Bar Council and as Chairman, Supreme Court Building Committee. He was appointed as Chief Justice High Court of Balochistan on April 22,1999. For his services and seniority he was elevated to the Supreme Court on February 4, 2000.

He was appointed as Chief Justice of Pakistan on June 30,2005 by President General Pervez Musharraf. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is the senior-most judge among the sitting judges of the apex court after the outgoing Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry assumed the office of Chief Justice on June 30,2005.

Important rulings


Hasba Bill case

Main article: Hasba bill

The proposed Hasba Bill allowed for the creation of a force of religious police controlled by Islamic clerics, similar to the Afghan Taliban's Department of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The Hasba bill also proposed powers for religious police to ensure observance of Islamic practices and values while curbing palm reading and other superstitious customs deemed un-Islamic by the legislators.

President Pervez Musharraf petitioned the top court for an opinion after the Hasba bill was passed through North West Frontier Province's assembly.

"The governor of the province of NWFP may not assent to the Hasba bill in its present form," Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, head of a panel of nine judges, told the court before listing several clauses in the bill deemed unconstitutional.

Cases for 2007

It is thought that two very important cases were to be seen in the supreme court in the coming months

  • The case inquiring the dual nationality of the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and his eligibility to be Prime Minister.
  • The case to whether or not the President Pervez Musharraf could run the election for the next Presidency term

Suspension 2007

President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf on March 9, 2007 virtually suspended the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, and appointed the most senior judge available, Justice Javaid Iqbal, as the acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Later it was explained that the senior-most judge after chief justice was Justice Rana Bhagwandas, but since he was away from the country, Justice Javed Iqbal being the second in line was made the acting head of the apex court until Justice Bhagwandas would return.

The move to make Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry ‘non functional’ was immediately followed by yet another decision by the president to send a reference under Article 209 of the Constitution of Pakistan to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to investigate allegations of misconduct against him.

Justice Chaudhry was summoned by the President General Pervaiz Musharraf at his Army residence in Rawalpindi on Friday, March 9, 2007 and asked to explain his position on a list of charges brought against him from several quarters. [3] He was then demanded resignation, something which Justice Chaudhry refused to do and was hence forth detained there for some five hours while arrangements were made elsewhere in Islamabad for speedy appointment of the Acting-Chief Justice. According to further reports he was only allowed to leave when the Acting-Chief Justice had taken oath of office and proceedings of the Supreme Judicial Council had begun. According to legal analysts, the procedure adopted by the President is not just inappropriate but also unconstitutional and therefore illegal.

The president’s orders came in the afternoon, and within minutes took the country by storm. Many in the legal fraternity were shocked by the way the country’s top adjudicator had been treated. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's reaction was not known as since his "suspension" or being made "non-functional" he had remained incommunicado. After his meeting with President Musharraf, he remained inside the presidential office for a few hours, and was later prevented from going to the Supreme Court by the security officials.

Soon after the oath taking ceremony, the SJC went into a session and decided to call Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on March 13 to answer the allegations of misconduct levelled against him. Presided over by Acting Chief Justice Javed Iqbal, the SJC also ordered the chief justice not to perform functions as judge of the Supreme Court or as the chief justice till the reference was decided by the council.

The SJC meeting was also attended by apex court judges namely Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Chief Justice of Lahore High Court Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry and Chief Justice Sindh High Court Sabihuddin Ahmad, who had flown into Islamabad earlier in the day.

According to the Advocate General of Sindh, Justice Chaudhry is still the Chief Justice of Pakistan, and should be allowed to exercise all due previliges. However, the flags of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Supreme Court have been removed from his home and his name and references have been removed from the website of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. It is worth noting that, according to BBC urdu and The News (Pakistani newspaper), the supreme judicial council is going to look into the inquiry against Justice Chaudhry. Out of the three Judges of the council there are corruption cases already pending against two judges (one for financial corruption and second a case related to fraud in land) and the third Judge got his daughter admitted to a Medical College on the recomendations of the Chief Minister of a province of Pakistan. [4]

On March 12, 2007, lawyers across Pakistan began boycotting all court procedures in protest of the suspension. In the capital, Islamabad, and in other cities such as Karachi and Quetta, hundreds of lawyers dressed in black-suits attended rallies, condemning the suspension as unconstitutional. More than twenty lawyers were injured in clashes with police during the demonstrations in Lahore. [5]

On March 13, 2007, Justice Chaudhry appeared before a closed hearing with the SJC. The hearing lasted for two hours and was adjourned until Friday, March 16. Justice Chaudhry issued a four-page press release denouncing the moves against him, saying that neither President Musharraf nor the SJC had the authority to prevent him from working. He also reported that his telephones at home had been disconnected and vehicles confiscated. [6]

References

  1. ^ Iftikhar A. Khan Dawn news article retrived on March 13 2007
  2. ^ Iftikhar A. Khan Dawn news article retrived on March 13 2007
  3. ^ Judge row prompts Pakistan democracy questions , BBC, Monday, 12 March 2007, 17:47 GMT.
  4. ^ BBC-Urdu
  5. ^ Lawyers protest against Musharraf, BBC, Monday, 12 March 2007, 11:40 GMT
  6. ^ Pakistan panel quizzes top judge, BBC, Tuesday, 13 March 2007, 13:26 GMT.

See also


Preceded by
Nazim Hussain Siddiqui 		Chief Justices of Pakistan Succeeded by
Javed Iqbal
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