ISLAMABAD, April 19: The focus of the legal battle involving Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry shifted from the Supreme Judicial Council to the Supreme Court on Thursday when a bench of the apex court served notices on President Pervez Musharraf and other respondents on the CJ’s petition challenging the filing of a reference against him.

A three-member bench adjourned the proceedings till Tuesday (April 24) after issuing the notices. The bench comprised Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Hamid Ali Mirza.

The respondents in the petition are the president, the federation of Pakistan through the secretary for the ministry of law, the SJC through its secretary and registrars of the Supreme Court, Sindh High Court and the Lahore High Court.

The same bench is already seized with five petitions on the same issues, including one contending that under Article 209 of the Constitution, no reference can be filed against a sitting chief justice.

Interestingly, the SJC is scheduled to resume hearing of the reference against the chief justice the same day when Justice Iftikhar’s petition will be taken up by the apex court.

“The Supreme Court is superior to the SJC and, therefore, we will attend its hearing first,” announced Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, the counsel for the petitioner.

At the outset, Justice Raza Khan informed Aitzaz Ahsan that the Supreme Court office was about to return the petition on three objections: the subject matter was sub judice; the petitioner had victimised three judges by raising allegations of bias against them (Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar of the Supreme Court and Lahore High Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry); and numerous relief had been sought in the petition.

Aitzaz Ahsan, however, described the objections as frivolous and discriminatory, recalling that the same office had admitted similar petitions on which notices had been issued to Attorney-General Makhdoom Ali Khan for April 24.

Aitzaz Ahsan cited the 1998 Malik Asad Ali case and recalled that the question of bias against two former chief justices – Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui and Justice Sheikh Riaz – had been taken up by the Supreme Court in an open court. Former chief justice Ajmal Mian had excused himself from sitting on the bench for being ultimate beneficiary when the court took up the matter to remove Justice Sajjad Ali Shah as the chief justice, the lawyer recalled.

“In fact when things are done in open court, justice is served,” Barrister Ahsan said. He argued that the reference against the chief justice under Article 209 of the Constitution was invalid because the SJC was not a proper forum to try the chief justice.

Although the chief justice was not immune from accountability, only a full court (comprising all judges of the Supreme Court) was the proper forum to call the CJ to account, Mr Aitzaz argued.

The bench, however, adjourned the matter with an observation that since the objections dealt with merits of the case, these would be argued along with the main petition.

MORE PETITIONS: The Pakistan Bar Council, through its vice-chairman Ali Ahmed Kurd, and Supreme Court Bar Association president Munir A. Malik also filed separate petitions before the Supreme Court seeking a declaration that suspension of the chief justice by the president March 9 was illegal and that Justice Iftikhar was still the chief justice.