ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court (SC) Wednesday adjourned former IslamabadHigh Court judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui’s appeal against the decision of theSupreme Judicial Council (SJC) till January 2021.

A five-member larger bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Umar AtaBandial and comprised Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan,Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, heard thecase, filed by Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui seeking setting aside ofreport/opinion of the SJC and notification issued by law ministry datedOctober 11, 2018.

At the outset of proceedings, the court directed the Registrar Office toissue awareness notices to lawyers on objections to Islamabad, Rawalpindiand Karachi bar associations’ petitions.

Justice Bandial said this was an important case and the court wanted todecide the case after hearing counsel in detail. He said routine cases wereaffected if the bench was more than four members.

Advocate Hamid Khan counsel for Shoukat Aziz Siddiqui said his clientShaukat Aziz Siddiqui would retire next year. He said his client wanted thecase to be decided soon.

Justice Bandial said the case would be decided before the retirement ofShoukat Aziz Siddiqui.

Rasheed A Rizvi, counsel for Karachi Bar Association said the reasons fornot fixing their requests were not stated.

Justice Bandial said according to the Registrar Office, the language usedin the applications was incorrect.

Rasheed Rizvi pleaded the court to inform about objections so he couldsubmit application again.

Advocate Salahuddin, counsel for Islamabad Bar said his amended petitionwas also not fixed. The court said all applicants would be notifiedregarding the objections.