ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui on Wednesday observed that the violation of a court order by a judge could not be considered just only misconduct, but something beyond it. The bench, headed by Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui and consisting of Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez, was hearing contempt charges against superior courts’ judges who took oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) in defiance of a restraining order issued by the SC on November 3, 2007.
Justice Mahmood Siddiqui said judges who took oath under the PCO violated a restraining order, but SM Zafar, lawyer for Justice Zahid Hussain, argued that a judge was a part of the court, thus the court could not issue him a contempt notice. He said the Supreme Court’s July 31, 2009 verdict had stated that the matter of any misconduct by judges would be dealt with by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).
Zafar said the verdict had also stated that no contempt of court proceedings would be initiated against judges recommended by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and that his client had been appointed on the recommendation of the chief justice.
