ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday dismissed former chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar’s application for halting the proceedings of the case against PCO Judges and directed his counsel to present his defence.
A four-member larger bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, heard the case.
There is no law prevalent for contempt of court in the country, Ibrahim Satti, counsel for former chief adjudicator Abdul Hameed Dogar argued before the bench. The contempt of court law of 1976 was abolished in 1998. The three subsequent contempt of court ordinances lapsed as they could not be ratified by parliament.
“As there is no law for contempt of court in the country, the court therefore cannot hear this case,” Satti contended.
He argued that the 16-member larger bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, has accepted the counsel’s appeal and stopped the proceedings of the chief justice’s case till the bench has reached a decision regarding the contempt of court law.
The case is related to the manhandling of the chief justice by the police after he was illegally removed by former president Musharraf in November 2007. The four-member bench should therefore adjourn the case till the final decision of the court.
The court, however, overruled the counsel’s contention and directed him to argue the case. He requested the bench to let him present his formulations after Dr Basit.
Dr Basit, during the course of proceedings, argued that people are of the view that the court is acting with unnecessary haste in the case.
“We also face certain limitations; we cannot present our viewpoint to the public in TV programmes. People are free however to form an opinion,” Justice Khwaja remarked.
Later Justice Siddiqui adjourned the hearing of the case till Tuesday (today).
The court has been conducting the proceedings of the cases of Justice (retd) Abdul Hameed Dogar, and former chief justice of Lahore High Court, Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry.
The cases of eight sitting judges are being heard for taking oath under the provisional constitutional order issued by former president Pervez Musharraf on November 3, 2007. They are Justice of the Supreme Court, Syed Zahid Hussain, Justice Khurshid Anwar Bhinder, Justice Hamid Ali Shah, Justice Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, Justice Hasnat Ahmad Khan, Justice Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi, Justice Yasmin Abbasey and Justice Jehan Zaib Rahim of the high courts.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 11th, 2011.
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