ISLAMABAD – Verdict was reserved by the Supreme Court on Tuesday after the objections raised by the counsel of the former de-facto chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Abdul Hameed Dogar which alleged that the bench hearing the case was not ‘competent’.
A four-member bench comprising Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Pervez, after hearing arguments of Raja Muhammad Ibrahim Satti, counsel for former CJP Abdul Hameed Dogar, reserved its verdict which is to be announced today (Wednesday).
Earlier, Ibrahim Satti submitted a written reply on behalf of his client which was returned by the court because it was not numbered by the registrar’s office.
In his application, he said “Since all of the judges sitting in the bench are also violators of the alleged restraining order of Nov 3, 2007, thus one set of violators cannot hear the case against the other similar placed persons who are sailing in the same boat.”
He said haste and anxiety was being shown by the bench. “In the above circumstances there is genuine apprehension in the mind of his client that he will not get fair trial/justice from this bench as guaranteed under Article 10A of the Constitution”, he submitted.
Justice Tariq Parvez said the bench was not showing haste as Supreme Court Bar Association’s President Asma Jahangir had requested the chief justice of Pakistan to take up the PCO judges’ case at earliest.
Satti informed the court that the applicant was caught by surprise last night (Monday) when it came to his knowledge that an order by this bench in a Criminal Original petition was lodged against him, adding that he had filed an application against the Monday’s order under Article 10A of the Constitution. He said the applicant had filed reply to a notice under Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003 (Ordinance V of 2003) and the said reply was numbered as CMA 4487/2009 and had remained the same which was evident from the January 1 order of Registrar and also from the history of the case. The bench after hearing arguments of Satti reserved the judgment, which will be announced today (Wednesday).
