The Supreme Court (SC) has held that only the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) can investigate allegations of misconduct against judges of the apex court and high courts, it emerged on Wednesday.
The observation was made in a detailed verdict issued on Tuesday, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, in a case pertaining to the contempt proceedings against Additional Registrar (Judicial) Nazar Abbas.
Three Supreme Court judges had initiated contempt proceedings against the senior staff member in January for not fixing a case regarding the jurisdiction of regular benches. The case pertained to whether regular benches of the Supreme Court could determine the constitutionality of Article 191A of the Constitution, under which the Constitutional Bench was established after the 26th Amendment.
The detailed verdict issued today said that by virtue of holding a constitutional position, sub-article (5) of Article 199 of the Constitution granted immunity to SC and high court judges for acts performed within their judicial and administrative capacity.
“The constitutional scheme of immunity to the judges of the superior courts is to secure the independence of the judiciary, which is the command of Article 2A of the Constitution. It is for this reason, a judge of the same court cannot issue any kind of writ nor can take any action against another judge of the same court.”
The verdict further said: “It is well settled that a judge of the Supreme Court or of a high court is not answerable to a judge of the same court. If a judge of the superior court cannot issue a writ to another judge of the same court, how can a judge be given power to issue a direction or initiate proceedings under Article 204(2) of the Constitution against a sitting judge of the same court and punish him for committing contempt of court?”
The detailed order observed that the superior judiciary were generally protected by judicial immunity for their judicial work and administrative functions with respect to the affairs of their respective courts.
However, it added that this protection was not absolute as it did not shield them from the consequences for misconduct, which was a matter of judicial administration or discipline.
It said that allegations of misconduct against superior court judges could only be dealt with under Article 209 of the Constitution by the SJC.
“Sub-article (7) of Article 209 of the Constitution bars any other forum from inquiring into matters of misconduct against a judge of the Supreme Court or of a high court. This is a substantive provision and salient feature of the Constitution,” the order noted.
More to follow.
