Islamabad:

The Apex Court Senior Puisne -Judge, Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, has said he is not afraid of any reference that was joked that he was joked to be filed against him in the highest Judicial Council (SJC).

“Why fear a reference when you haven’t done anything wrong?” said the judge, who was intended to become Chief Justice of Pakistan before promulating the 26th constitutional amendment.

Justice Shah had an informal interaction with journalists after the selection of seven new Supreme Court judges on Friday.

In response to a question, he said he would deal with the reference if and when it was filed. “I have no personal enmity against anyone,” he added.

PM’s help with political affairs Rana Sanaullah said earlier this week that two senior SC judges were responsible for mismatch cases when they wrote letters on any topic that contained critical remarks and delicious them to the media.

However, Sanaullah had issued a clarification later, saying that his declaration of filing a reference to the judges was neither a message nor a threat.

Justice Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar were among the four judges who recently wrote a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan, Yahya Afridi, on issuing a new seniority list of the Judges of Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Earlier, on December 7, Justice Shah wrote a letter to CJ Afridi and urged him to convene a full court for hearing the petitions filed against the 26th constitutional amendment. Justice Shah had also written letters to Afridi’s predecessor Justice Qazi Faez Isa on more than one occasion and had criticized him seriously for allegedly undermining the judiciary on the day of his pension.

In his recent interaction with journalists, CJ Afridi had complained that the letters he received from some judges had already been leaked to the media before he could review them.

According to a report, federal minister of law Azam Nazeer Tarar had declared that Rana Sanaullah never spoke of filing a reference to the judges except to present his view of “mismatch” of some of the judges in the midst of growing tensions over the nomination and transfer of senior lawyers.

When we talk to the host of Express News’ Show Center Stage, PML-N senator Irfan Siddiqui also clarified that the federal government had no plan to move a referral against any judge.

“If such an intention existed, the government would certainly have stated it. Such an act is not performed in secrecy; there is a proper procedure for it. No such action is considered, nor has it been discussed in the cabinet.”

He said Rana Sanaullah mentioned that the certain judges could fall into the category of a reference. “However, the Minister of Law clarified that the government does not submit any referral.

“If such a plan was in place, it would be published,” he added.

Interaction with journalists

In response to another comment from a journalist that the judges did not do their jobs, Justice Shah declared that the judges’ performance could be measured by seeing their judgments and their concluding trial.

“It is publicly available in terms of how many of someone’s decisions have been published in law books. All items are available on the Supreme Court’s web site,” he added.

According to some reports, Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi allegedly said the judges did not perform their duties.

The senior puisne judge noted that he interacts with his brother judges and drinks tea with them. In a cryptic reference to his differences with some other judges, however, he said, “What could I say if no one could see the elephant in the room?”