ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan today (Tuesday) rejected Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s application seeking live coverage of proceedings of his review petition against the June 19, 2020 order.
By majority vote, six judges of the apex court rejected the request of Justice Isa to broadcast the hearing of the case, while four judges supported broadcasting the hearing live. The court said a detailed decision on the petition will be issued later.
“For reasons to be recorded later, this Misc. application is dismissed. However, the right of the people to have access to information is recognised, the details and modalities of which are to be decided by the Full Court on the administrative side,” read the majority judgment.
When the verdict was issued, Justice Isa said he wanted to know the names of the judges who were for and against the request. On this, Justice Umar Ata Bandial said that if he [Justice Isa] reads the verdict, he will know the names.
Meanwhile, the dissenting note of the verdict said that court proceedings should be uploaded on the SC website while audio recordings of cases of public interest should also be uploaded on the website without being edited.
On June 19, 2020, seven judges of a 10-judge bench quashed a presidential reference against Justice Isa but also ordered the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to conduct an inquiry into the judge’s family members’ foreign assets and submit a report to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).
