Bulletproof car for ex-CJP: Lawyers contest govt’s intra-court appeal

Lawyers say single bench had decided the case after hearing interior ministry.

ISLAMABAD:

Lawyers have challenged the government’s intra-court appeal filed to reclaim the bulletproof car given to the former chief justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Two senior lawyers on Monday argued before a division bench of the Islamabad High Court comprising Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi and Justice Aamer Farooq against the maintainability of the government plea.

The lawyers, Sheikh Ahsanuddin and Taufeeq Asif, contended that it was not yet clear who actually gave the authority to file the intra-court appeal as it has been filed by the cabinet secretary while the affidavit attached with it was filed by the interior secretary.



In his arguments, Ahsan said that it was not appropriate to say that the single bench did not hear the Federation or did not provide them any opportunity in the case. He said the single bench had decided the case after hearing the interior ministry.

Besides, no one stopped the cabinet and law secretaries to present arguments during the proceedings.

In the intra-court plea, the cabinet and law secretaries contended that they were not a party to the petition which led to the provision of a bulletproof car to the ex-top judge.

Moreover, he drew the bench’s attention towards an order of the court in which top policemen had been directed to submit their replies as to why a squad vehicle was withdrawn from security protocol of justice Chaudhry.

The bench said that the notice could not be issued as the office had raised an objection on the contempt application. The lawyers were directed to remove objections on the plea.

In January 2014, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the IHC had ordered that the “former chief justice shall be provided foolproof security along with possession of…a bulletproof car for his and his family’s use without putting embargo of any time specification.”

The Cabinet Division had issued a notification saying that the vehicle was being provided to the former CJ for three months. However, Justice Siddiqui held that the “time-specific clause was unfeasible, unrealistic and discriminatory.”

The government appeal states that there was no precedent for the provision of a bulletproof car to any former CJP, and if the practice was allowed, it will not only open the door for all retired judges of the superior judiciary to seek the same but would also be discriminatory under Article 25 of the Constitution.

Following the arguments, the court adjourned the case till Tuesday (February 23).

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd,  2016.