Contempt of court case: PCO judge summons four apex court judges
Justice Rahim observes that the November 3 order did not qualify as a judicial order.
ISLAMABAD:
A PCO judge of the Peshawer High Court, Justice Jehanzaib Rahim, served on Thursday show-cause notices on four sitting judges of the Supreme Court for prosecuting him and his fellow PCO judges on contempt of court charges.
“Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawwad S Khwaja, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain are required to appear in the preliminary hearing before me on Feb 21, 2011 to explain and justify why a date should not be fixed for framing charges against them,” the dysfunctional judge said in his order.
A four-member larger bench, headed by Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, comprising Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain on February 2 decided to proceed against unseated PCO judges by framing contempt charges against them on February 21.
“This court, being the apex court in Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa and not a court subordinate to the Supreme Court, has been noting with grave judicial concern, the consistent subversion of the Constitution by a larger bench of the Supreme Court, the violation of the oath of office by those judges, wilful failure to act in accordance with the Constitution and the law, the trampling of the code of conduct issued by the Supreme Judicial Council by them and the disobedience of the decisions of the Supreme Court, has come to the conclusion that, in addition to other consequences, these judges are liable to show-cause to this court as to why they should not be formally charged for contempt of court.
They have already held themselves that judges of High Court and Supreme Court are not immune from contempt of court,” the PCO judge said in his ruling. “(The) larger bench had not noted that the November 3, 2007 judgment was not served upon him.”
“My appointing and removing authority as judge of the high court is the president and I was bound to honour his order and not the order passed by persons purportedly acting as judges of the Supreme Court in the evening on November 3, 2007,” he asserted.
He also raised various objections against credibility of the November 3 judgment and observed that the order did not qualify as a judicial order. The larger bench, he observed, also violated the court’s judgment of July 31, 2009, which referred the cases of PCO judges to the Supreme Judicial Council.
Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawwad S Khwaja, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain “are required to appear in the preliminary hearing before me on Feb 21, 2011 to explain and justify why a date should not be fixed for framing charges against them”.
He said that the president should hold an inquiry to determine which of the seven judges, who signed the November 3, 2007, order, were actually in Karachi and who were in Islamabad.
In his order, he said that the president should file a fresh reference in the Supreme Judicial Council in respect of complaints of March 5, 2007 of the judicial misconduct sent to his predecessor by him against the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan.
“The office is directed to fax this order to the Supreme Court registrar for serving this notice on the judges of the larger bench. The order shall also be served on the judges individually through courier and through the SC registrar,” the PHC’s dysfunctional judge said in his ruling.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 18th, 2011.
A PCO judge of the Peshawer High Court, Justice Jehanzaib Rahim, served on Thursday show-cause notices on four sitting judges of the Supreme Court for prosecuting him and his fellow PCO judges on contempt of court charges.
“Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawwad S Khwaja, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain are required to appear in the preliminary hearing before me on Feb 21, 2011 to explain and justify why a date should not be fixed for framing charges against them,” the dysfunctional judge said in his order.
A four-member larger bench, headed by Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, comprising Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain on February 2 decided to proceed against unseated PCO judges by framing contempt charges against them on February 21.
“This court, being the apex court in Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa and not a court subordinate to the Supreme Court, has been noting with grave judicial concern, the consistent subversion of the Constitution by a larger bench of the Supreme Court, the violation of the oath of office by those judges, wilful failure to act in accordance with the Constitution and the law, the trampling of the code of conduct issued by the Supreme Judicial Council by them and the disobedience of the decisions of the Supreme Court, has come to the conclusion that, in addition to other consequences, these judges are liable to show-cause to this court as to why they should not be formally charged for contempt of court.
They have already held themselves that judges of High Court and Supreme Court are not immune from contempt of court,” the PCO judge said in his ruling. “(The) larger bench had not noted that the November 3, 2007 judgment was not served upon him.”
“My appointing and removing authority as judge of the high court is the president and I was bound to honour his order and not the order passed by persons purportedly acting as judges of the Supreme Court in the evening on November 3, 2007,” he asserted.
He also raised various objections against credibility of the November 3 judgment and observed that the order did not qualify as a judicial order. The larger bench, he observed, also violated the court’s judgment of July 31, 2009, which referred the cases of PCO judges to the Supreme Judicial Council.
Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawwad S Khwaja, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain “are required to appear in the preliminary hearing before me on Feb 21, 2011 to explain and justify why a date should not be fixed for framing charges against them”.
He said that the president should hold an inquiry to determine which of the seven judges, who signed the November 3, 2007, order, were actually in Karachi and who were in Islamabad.
In his order, he said that the president should file a fresh reference in the Supreme Judicial Council in respect of complaints of March 5, 2007 of the judicial misconduct sent to his predecessor by him against the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan.
“The office is directed to fax this order to the Supreme Court registrar for serving this notice on the judges of the larger bench. The order shall also be served on the judges individually through courier and through the SC registrar,” the PHC’s dysfunctional judge said in his ruling.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 18th, 2011.