The Supreme Court on Friday ruled the dismissal of former Islamabad High Court (IHC) senior judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui as illegal, issuing directions that he may now be considered a retired judge.

The decision was announced by a five-member bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Justice Irfan Saadat. The bench had reserved the verdict on Aziz’s plea in January this year.

In his petition, the former judge challenged the decision of Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) removing him from office and an Oct 11, 2018 notification because of which he was dismissed for a controversial speech he had delivered at Rawalpindi Bar Association.

In his speech, Aziz blamed the country’s premier spy agency ISI of illegally using their influence to manipulate the court proceedings and forming their choice of benches in cases related to indictment of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.

However, since the court noticed that since the former judge had attained the age of 62 years, he would not be able to resume his previous service as a judge. “Consequently, Justice Siddiqui shall be deemed to have retired as a judge of the IHC and he will be entitled to receive all the benefits and privileges due to a retired judge, by allowing these petitions in the above term,” it stated.