Addl registrar challenges contempt notice in SC

ISLAMABAD: An additional registrar of the Supreme Court (SC) has challenged the show-cause notice issued to him for contempt of court in a matter related to the bench’s power case.

Additional Registrar (Judicial) Nazar Abbas filed an intra-court appeal against the show-cause notice issued to him by a two-member bench of the apex court comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi for contempt of court in a matter related to the bench’s power case.

He prayed the SC to halt the contempt proceedings initiated against him till the decision on the intra-court appeal.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court constituted a six-member larger bench, headed by Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, which will hear Abbas’s instant case on Monday (January 27) at 1: pm.

The bench comprises Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Mussarat Hilali.

It is pertinent to mention here that a two-member bench of the SC comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi the other day had reserved the judgment in the contempt case against Abbas after hearing four amici curiae, appointed for its assistance. Abbas was accused of failing to fix a hearing for the bench’s power case. The bench had repeatedly observed that a judicial order passed by the court cannot be overridden by an administrative order. Justice Shah had observed that prima facie the judges committee had ignored the judicial order passed by the court. On the other hand, an eight-member constitutional bench headed by Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan will hear identical petitions challenging the 26th Constitutional Amendment on January 27. The bench comprises Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A Malik, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Mussarat Hilali, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan.

Political parties, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Jamat-e-Islami as well as Balochistan Bar Council, Lahore High Court Bar Association and eight former presidents of Supreme Court Bar Association have challenged the 26th Constitutional Amendment.

All the petitioners have requested the SC to constitute a full court for hearing these petitions, besides praying for live broadcast of the instant proceedings.