Islamabad court issues contempt notice to Najam Sethi

Petitioner claims that despite suspension order, Sethi was performing his duties which amounted to contempt of court.

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday issued a contempt of court notice to Najam Sethi for defying the court’s order that restrained him from performing his duties as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) interim chairman, Express News reported.

The petitioner Ahmed Nawaz filed the contempt application, seeking proceedings against Sethi for ignoring court orders.

The counsel for Nawaz, Advocate Abdul Razak Rajab in his contempt application had maintained that despite the court order Sethi was performing his duties which amounted to contempt of court.

“Sethi used contemptuous language against an IHC judge during a talk show of a TV channel and also on social website Twitter, saying that he is still the chairman of the board,” Rajab had stated.

Saga

On October 29, IHC judge Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui had suspended Sethi and barred him from performing his duties for failing to comply with a legal order to elect a permanent PCB chairman.

However, after a couple of hours, a division bench, at the same court granted a stay order on the suspension ruling until November 4.

Sethi further tweeted that he was still the PCB chairman because of the latest stay order.

However, Express News reported on October 31 that the IHC's written statement over the issue clarifies that Sethi remains suspended.