SC declares Justice Shaukat Siddiqui’s removal ‘illegal’

On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, a former member of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), had been wrongfully removed and that he should now be regarded as a retired judge.
In a 23-page ruling, a five-member panel of Pakistan’s highest court, led by Chief Justice Qazi Fazi Isa, issued the ruling. Judges Amin-ud-din Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Irfan Saadat Khan made up the bench in addition to the CJP.
The ruling said that Justice Siddiqui was the target of legal action by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on the “assumption that the truth or falseness of the allegations levelled” by the former judge was “irrelevant”.