Islamabad: The Supreme Court (SC) has rejected a request to order immediate action on the Supreme Judicial Council receiving a complaint against judges.
The SC had taken up the matter of action against judges.
A two-member bench headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan announced a reserved verdict.
The six-page reserved judgment was written and read out by Justice Muneeb Akhtar.
Under the Constitution of Pakistan, the president has the power to remove a judge after the proceedings of the Supreme Judicial Council, the Supreme Court declared.
The Constitution clearly defines the distinction between a serving judge and a retired judge, the apex court stated.
The verdict further said that the Supreme Judicial Council cannot take action against a judge who has retired from office.
The forum for depriving a judge of pension and privileges is also the Supreme Judicial Council, the SC declared.
The Supreme Court had reserved the decision on June 13 on the maintainability of the petition.
Back in February, a lawyer had filed a reference against Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi in the Supreme Judicial Council for possessing assets beyond means.
The reference requested the SJC to initiate an inquiry against the top court judge’s assets worth Rs3 billion.
The action was sought shortly after the PML-N accused two top court judges for being “biased” against the party and its leadership.
