LHC again rejects AG’s reply to contempt notice

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court full bench on Friday rejected another reply of Advocate General of Punjab Ahmad Awais to a contempt notice issued to him for a contemptuous conduct during announcement of a verdict against Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on Model Town incident.

Senior lawyer Hamid Khan appeared before the bench to represent the advocate general and filed a two-page reply to the contempt notice. The bench headed by Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan rejected the reply as it did not contain any apology on behalf of the advocate general for his conduct.

Justice Shahzad Ahmad Malik and Justice Aalia Neelum were the other members of the bench. The bench observed that the AG’s conduct showed that he did not want to get the contempt notice discharged but to contest it legally.

Justice Qasim Khan said the bench had required the principal law officer to submit an unconditional apology in three lines but it appeared that he wanted to delay the proceedings. Advocate Khan clarified that the advocate general did not want to contest the case on legal grounds. At this, the bench directed the AG to come up with a satisfactory reply and adjourned hearing until April 11.