Pakistan: Qazi Faez Isa sworn in as new Chief Justice

Justice Qazi Faez Isa was sworn in as the 29th Chief Justice of Pakistan on Sunday, following the retirement of his predecessor Umar Ata Bandial a day earlier, The News International reported. It is worth mentioning that Justice Isa was not assigned any constitutional case for the past three years when Imran Khan was the Prime Minister of Pakistan as a presidential reference filed against him in 2019.

Notably, Isa's first act as the Chief Justice was to form a full court to hear challenges to the law clipping the top judge's powers, The Dawn reported. The oath was administered by Pakistan President Arif Alvi during a ceremony at Aiwan-i-Sadr in Islamabad. Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar and Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir were also in attendance.

Justice Isa's tenure as the country's chief justice will be relatively brief, as he is slated to retire from the top judicial post on October 25, 2024, according to The News International. Notably, Isa took the oath as the apex court's judge on September 5, 2014. Despite being the senior puisne judge, he was not assigned any constitutional case for the past three years following a presidential reference filed against him in 2019, according to The News International.

For the past five months, Justice Isa — who took the oath as an SC judge on September 5, 2014 — has engaged in chamber work only. As a form of protest following his disagreement with the chief justice on suo motu powers, he has refrained from participating in any cases. In his first and major act as the top judge, Justice Isa formed a full court to hear a set of challenges to the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023, a bill that requires the formation of benches on constitutional matters of public importance by a committee of three senior judges of the court, Dawn reported.

The pleas will be taken up on Monday. Notices for the proceeding have already been issued to Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan. Notably, the enforcement of the SC (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023 had been suspended on the April 13 order of an eight-judge apex court bench, headed by outgoing CJP Umar Ata Bandial.

When the law was suspended, Justice Bandial had observed that the court had "great respect" for the Parliament but it also had to examine if any "constitutional deviation, violation or transgression" had taken place while enacting the SC (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023. However, the biggest challenge Justice Isa may encounter during his tenure as the CJP would be unifying the court and restoring the court's credibility so that no one could point a finger at the court's judgements, as per Dawn.

This comes as the perceived practice of the formation of a particular bench consisting of 'like-minded judges' to hear constitutional matters of public importance has become the basis of criticism of the top judiciary. According to Dawn, the biggest test Justice Isa may face as the Chief Justice, according to a senior counsel who wished not to be named, will come when the controversy regarding general elections within 90 days of the dissolution of the national and provincial assemblies may land in the Supreme Court.

Isa will also have to maintain a working relationship with the executive. President Arif Alvi asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to seek guidance from the Supreme Court on holding general elections on the same day.