Battle lines drawn: Former CJ denied access to Imran’s records for now

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court’s printing branch has balked at the possibility of providing records of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s contempt of court case to assist the former chief justice Chaudhry Iftikhar in his defamation suit against the former cricketer-turned politician.

Later, however, the printing branch referred the matter to the apex court’s registrar so he could decide the former chief justice’s plea.

The top court had issued a contempt of court notice to Imran last year on July 31 for describing the judiciary as a ‘shameful’ institution. The notice was served after the PTI clarified in court that he used the word against the conduct of the returning and presiding officers in the general elections of 2013, not the superior judiciary.

The former chief justice had sought details of the contempt case to strengthen his defamation suit against Imran.

Sheikh Ahsan, the former CJ’s counsel, said the court’s printing branch rejected the plea because Chaudhry Iftikhar was not the aggrieved party in the case. As a result, he could not be provided with the relevant documents under Supreme Court’s Rule 1980.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th,2014.