Daily Times

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial reserved on Monday his decision on the federal government’s plea seeking the withdrawal of the curative review reference filed against Justice Qazi Faez Isa by the ousted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

The Supreme Court heard the federal government’s appeal for the withdrawal of its curative review petition against a court order that accepted the review petitions challenging the court’s June 19, 2020, judgment on the presidential reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa in which the court had empowered the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to conduct an inquiry into the assets of the judge’s family.

Earlier, the registrar’s office (RO) had returned a set of nine curative review petitions on May 25, 2021 filed by the PTI-led government on the grounds that the petitions contained “scandalous language”. The SC office also observed that a second review petition could not be filed against a decision already given on a review petition. The RO had highlighted that the curative appeals contained many other deficiencies.

Subsequently, the federal government had lodged an appeal before the SC against the refusal by the RO to entertain unheard of legal remedy – curative review petition – in the Justice Isa case.

However, on March 30, the PDM government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered the withdrawal of the curative review reference as the government decided to not pursue the matter further.

Speaking to journalists after CJ Bandial completed the in-chamber hearing, Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan revealed that the government has submitted that “in our constitution, there is no room for a second review or curative review”.