The bench’s six members have rejected the plea while four have supported broadcasting of the hearing.
ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-April 13rd, 2021) The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday turned down a petition seeking live coverage of the Justice Qazi Faiz Isa case.
A 10-member SC bench announced its verdict on petition filed by Justice Qazi Faiz Isa to broadcast the hearing of his case.
According to the short order, six judges rejected the request of live coverage while four judges supported broadcasting of the hearing. The court said a detailed decision on the petition would be issued later.
The bench observed that detailed judgment would be released later.
The dissenting note of the verdict held that court proceedings should be uploaded on the Supreme Court website while audio recordings of the cases of public interest should be uploaded on the website without being edited as access to information was a basic right of the public.
The court said how it decides to give access to information is an administrative matter.
When the verdict was issued, Justice Isa said he wanted to know the Names of the judges who were for and against the request to have the case broadcast live.
At this, Justice Umar Ata Bandial said that if he [Justice Isa] reads the verdict, he will know the names.
'Judges speak through their decisions, not on television'
A law officer last month had informed the top court that the Federal government is opposed to Justice Isa's request for live broadcast of review petition proceedings. He had argued that live coverage would lead to a public debate on the conduct of the judges.
“judges speak through their decision and not on television,” the law officer argued. He further argued that decision would be popular and not legal.
At this, Justice Bandial observed that his arguments were strong and need to be reviewed. The law officer said media houses would not be able to take a stand on either side due to their institutional policy. “Justice Isa has argued that live broadcasts would educate the people but “if law students did not learn from books, what would they learn from live broadcasts?” asked the law officer.
