ISLAMABAD: Farogh Naseem resigned as law minister on Monday to represent the federal government in an important case in Supreme Judicial Council in reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
Farogh Naseem will represent the government in the references filed against Justice Qazi Faez Isa. His resignation has been accepted by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
In February this year, the Supreme Court had directed the federal government to explain in court whether the Asset Recovery Unit (ARU) was empowered to conduct an inquiry against a sitting judge of the apex court.
The results of the inquiry, later placed before President Arif Alvi, had resulted in a presidential reference filed against Justice Isa back in May 2019. Justice Isa had been accused of failing to disclose assets belonging to his wife and children in his tax returns.
The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) had taken up the case, but petitions had also been filed in the top court against the reference by numerous parties, including the Pakistan Bar Council. A bench of the top court had later been constituted to conduct hearings into these petitions.
The bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, comprised of Justice Maqbool Baqir, Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik, Justice Faisal Arab, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Qazi Amin Ahmed.
This is second time in almost a year as Farogh Naseem resogs as Law Monister and presented in Supreme Court in favour of present Government. Last year, Farogh Naseem had resigned to fight Chief Of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s case since he could not argue as the federal law minister.
Justice Isa had written letters to President Alvi after the law minister instituted a presidential reference against him for allegedly possessing properties in the United Kingdom in the name of wife and children.
Read more: Justice Qazi Faez Isa questions Shehzad Akbar’s appointment as ARU head
