PHC CJ transfers contempt case against minister to senior-most judge

PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel on Friday transferred the contempt of court case against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Revenue Ali Amin Gandapur to the court of the senior-most PGC judge for hearing.

When PHC Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, heading a single bench, started hearing the contempt of court case against the provincial minister, his lawyer Abdul Latif Afridi submitted before the bench that his client wanted to tender unconditional apology in the open court.

However, the chief justice observed that he cannot hear the case. Instead, he transferred it to the court of senior-most judge of the high court with the observation that he would decide whether to accept the apology or not.   

Revenue Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, through his reply to the court had tendered an unconditional apology in the contempt of court case in which he was accused of scandalising the judiciary at a news conference last month.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Chairman Absar Alam and management of a private Pashto television channel also submitted written replies to the charge of committing the contempt of court.

The PHC registrar had issued notice to Ali Amin Gandapur on April 25 wherein it was stated that he had levelled baseless allegations against the chief justice about interference in development projects of Dera Ismail Khan and that this was tantamount to scandalising the superior judiciary.

In his reply to the notice, the minister denied that he had tried to scandalise the court. He said that he had mentioned one Shoaib Miankhel, a contractor of civil work, of misusing the name of the chief justice for blackmailing government officials.

He claimed that Shoaib Miankhel was contractor for building different roads but he had not even started work on these projects even though the financial year was nearing its end.

The minister maintained that he could not even think of scandalising or bringing into hatred the worthy chief justice. He added that he was misquoted by the media, which created a wrong impression.