ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Friday approved the PDM government’s plea to withdraw a curative review reference filed by the ousted Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government against Supreme Court judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
The previous government had filed the curative review reference after the top court quashed its initial Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) reference against Justice Isa for not disclosing his family’s foreign assets in his wealth statements.
Justice Bandial had reserved his decision on the plea in April, with the PDM government arguing that “there is no room for a second review or curative review” in the Constitution.
In the detailed order released today, Justice Bandial accepted the government’s position and ruled that “curative review has no standing in our jurisprudence”.
“In the present case, no Hon’ble Member of the Bench that delivered the Subject Judgment (nor any other Judge of the Court) has so far considered it necessary to re-visit, review or set aside that judgment on the ground that it has had a significant impact on the Fundamental Rights of citizens; or that it is in the interest of the public good; or that it is per incuriam.
“Consequently, in the absence of such a judicial view and the lack of an enabling jurisdiction that allows an aggrieved or concerned party to file a second review, the appellant’s curative review petitions appear to be not maintainable,” Justice Bandial wrote in the order.
The CJP stated that the ordinary course of action would have been to refer the matter to the top court for a conclusive determination on its maintainability, but the appellants had sought the withdrawal of their curative review petitions.
“The instant Civil Misc. Applications filed by the appellants are accordingly allowed and their curative review petitions are dismissed as withdrawn,” the order concluded.
