ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has asked Justice Qazi Faez not to hear cases involving Prime Minister Imran Khan “to uphold the principle of un-biasness and impartiality”.

“The Hon Chief Justice of Pakistan, therefore, observed that in these circumstances it would not be proper for the Hon Judge to hear the matter considering that he had already filed a petition against the Prime Minister of Pakistan, in his personal capacity. Therefore, to uphold the principle of un-biasness and impartiality, it would be in the interest of justice that the Hon Judge should not hear matters involving the Prime Minister of Pakistan,” states a five-page written order of Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed.

A five-judge larger bench of the Supreme Court led by the CJP and comprising Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan on Thursday heard a case pertaining to the release of Rs500 million development fund to each lawmaker directed by the prime minister ahead of the upcoming Senate elections.

The order states that Justice Isa sought to place on record photocopies of certain documents reportedly received by him from some anonymous source through a WhatsApp message.

However, Justice Isa said that he was unsure if the documents were genuine.

The order further states that the copies of such documents were handed over by the judge to other members of the bench. A copy was also handed over to Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan.

In response, the AGP submitted that since the authenticity of the documents was questionable, these might not be taken on record. He further submitted that in any event, the judge would become a complainant in the matter and in that capacity it would not be appropriate for the judge to hear the matter.

Earlier, the Supreme Court disposed of the case, declaring PM Imran Khan’s response satisfactory in the release of development fund.