Maintaining that Tuesday’s press conference by real estate tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain had brought the “judiciary into ridicule”, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday took suo motu notice of the briefing and issued show-cause notice to Riaz over his latest allegations against the chief justice of Pakistan and his son Dr Arsalan Iftikhar.
The bench comprised Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, the senior-most judge of the apex court, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Amir Hani Muslim, who put Malik Riaz on notice on a note put forward by SC Registrar and a separate plea moved by Chaudhry Ashraf Gujjar, the former president of Islamabad High Court Bar Association.
Earlier in the day, the normal proceedings of all benches were suspended in the morning and an informal emergency meeting was held at the chambers of the chief justice of Pakistan that was attended by all 12 judges of the apex court present in the federal capital.
A source said the chief justice took his colleagues into confidence over the allegations levelled against his family during the meeting and said he had decided not to include himself in court proceedings until the situation returned to normal.
However, all judges advised the CJP not to do so and rather take a suo motu notice of the press conference held by Malik Riaz, as the matter was of grave concern as the tycoon had brought the entire judiciary into ridicule. The source added that the meeting later unanimously decided to take suo motu notice. Following the full court meeting, the chief justice issued orders at around 2pm for suo motu notice of the fresh allegations levelled by Malik Riaz and a three-judge bench was formed to hear the case.
During hearing of the case at 3:30pm, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan read out the Urdu transcript of Malik Riaz’s conference.The bench said Malik Riaz had shown disrespect for the judiciary and caused obstruction in the administration of justice. The bench said in its order that prima facie Malik Riaz had attempted to ridicule the court and the judges. The bench issued notices under Article 204 of the constitution, read with Section 3 of Contempt of Court Act 2003 and section 17 of the Supreme Court Rules. The bench summoned Malik Riaz to appear on Thursday and explain why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against him. The bench rejected a plea by Ashraf Gujjar of placing Malik Riaz’s name on the Exit Control List. Justice Tariq Parvez said the court could not deprive anyone of his fundamental rights. The hearing was adjourned until today (Thursday).
SC notices ‘Ridicule of Judiciary’
