Former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Tassaduq Hussain Jillani has recused himself from a one-man inquiry commission to probe allegations of executive and intelligence agencies interference in judicial affairs as the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of the matter.

“Since the letter is addressed to the members of SJC and its chairman the chief justice of Pakistan, it would be violative of judicial propriety for me to inquire into a matter which may fall within the jurisdiction of a constitutional body which is the SJC or the Supreme Court of Pakistan itself,” he said in a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday.

Last week, the federal cabinet appointed him as the head of the one-member commission to investigate the claims of six Islamabad High Court judges.

He thanked the premier and the federal cabinet for reposing confidence in him to head the commission. Jillani also expressed gratitude to CJP Isa and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah for expressing confidence in him.

The former CJP added that the ToRs for the inquiry were “strictly not germane to the subject matter of the letter”, noting that the IHC judges had asked the SJC for guidance.

“Towards the end the request made in the letter is for an ‘institutional consultation’ in terms of the mechanism suggested in the said letter. Though the letter in question may not strictly fall within the parameters of Article 209 of the Constitution, but the honourable chief justice of Pakistan being a paterfamilias may address and resolve the issues raised in the letter at the institutional level,” he said, adding that he was recusing himself from the commission.