Article 209 of Pakistan Constitution empowers President to take action against a judge

In clause five of article 209  of Pakistan Constitution it is mentioned that if on information received from the Council or any other source, the president is of the opinion that a judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court ,-

(a)    may be incapable of properly performing the duties of his office by reason of physical or mental incapacity; or

(b)   may have been guilty of misconduct,

The president shall direct the Council to inquire into the matter.

It is mentioned in Clause six of article 209 of Pakistan Constitution that if Council reports back its opinion to the president that a judge is incapable of performing his or her duties of his office or has been guilty of misconduct and should be removed from office, the president may remove the judge from office.

Presently Supreme Judicial Council headed by Acting Chief Justice Mr. Rana Bhagwan Das is activated by the President of Pakistan under article 209 of Pakistan constitution to inquire the conduct of Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan Mr. Iftikhar Chaudhary. Regular hearings in camera are being conducted, funny aspect of the whole episode is good number of Lawyers have failed to understand that president has received information regarding alleged misconduct of Chief Justice and he is empowered by constitution to take appropriate action, an eminent lawyer Mr. Naeem Bukhari came up with good number of allegations against Chief Justice in his article published in a newspaper prior to the action taken by president of Pakistan, Mr. Naeem Bukhari is a member of Punjab Bar Council, soon after action taken by President against Chief Justice, Punjab Bar Council has canceled the membership of Mr. Naeem Bukhari advocate and he is barred to practice law in Punjab province of Pakistan.

Such a strong reaction from the lawyer’s community has created certain doubts about the ability of those agitating lawyers in minds of educated elite of society in Pakistan, disrespect for the word of constitution is reflected from behavior of agitating lawyers many of them when interviewed were quite ignorant regarding any such powers of president bestowed upon him by constitution.

Submitted by

ABDUR RAZIQ

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