Dual office: LHC to hear contempt plea against Zardari on Sept 27

Show-cause notice should be issued to president for not submitting a reply, counsel argues.

LAHORE:

In what is likely to be another flare-up of tensions between the executive and the judiciary, the Lahore High Court (LHC) set the hearing of a contempt of court petition against President Asif Ali Zardari for September 27.

Earlier, a four member-bench of the LHC issued a notice to President Asif Ali Zardari through his principal secretary, but no reply was submitted to the bench. The petition was moved by Munir Ahmad against the president for holding dual office and participating in political activities in violation of an order issued by a full bench of the LHC.

The five-member bench formed to hear the petition will be headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprises Justices Nasir Saeed Sheikh, Sheikh Najamul Hasan, Ijazul Ahsan and Syed Mansoor Ali Shah.

The petitioner submitted that the use of presidency for partisan political activities by President Zardari was not only illegal but also in contempt of court orders dated May 12, 2011, as defined in Article 204 of the Constitution.

The petitioner’s counsels say that they will argue before the bench that a show-cause notice be issued to President Zardari because the LHC had already given a suitable amount of time to the only respondent to explain his stance against the contempt petition, and  he should not receive a second chance.

Earlier, on Saturday, the petitioner filed a civil miscellaneous application seeking permission to make relevant documents part of the judicial record regarding the contempt petition against the President.

The documents quote the Chaudhry Zahoor and other vs Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and other judgment, where the then chief justice Hamoodur Rehman held that contempt of court proceedings had both civil and criminal elements, and hence could be tried by the court, while presidential immunity could be disregarded.

The petitioner’s counsel also maintained that since the Contempt of Court Act 2012 had been struck down by, contempt proceedings can be initiated against President Zardari.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2012.