New contempt law against delivery of justice: SC

6
118

A five-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry continued hearing a number of identical petitions challenging the Contempt of Court Act 2012 on Tuesday, with the CJP saying the contempt of court law was an important tool to make sure that court orders were implemented and the new contempt law seemed to be against the delivery of justice. The CJP said the practice of changing laws in haste was not correct.
During the proceedings, the petitioners continued their arguments against the recently approved contempt law. Liaqat Qureshi argued that the required debate and deliberation was not done before the enactment of new contempt law. The CJ questioned that could this law be abolished on such basis.
On behalf of the Karachi Bar Association President Mehmoodul Hassan, lawyer Hamid Khan argued that the contempt law was a copy of 1976 law except that a new clause regarding the president, prime minister, governors, chief ministers and other ministers had been added. “Section 4 of Contempt of Court Act is an attempt to make court’s decision ineffective while it is also contradiction of Article 189 of the constitution,” he argued. “The new contempt law was presented and approved in haste while its structure is also against the constitution,” Hamid Khan said. The CJP remarked that the Section 4 has been added so that the punishment could no longer remain effective. He also said that it seems as if it’s the mistake on the part of the draftsman.
Furthermore, addressing the petitioner, Justice Khawaja said one should not rely on media reports in the absence of a record of parliamentary proceedings. The petitioner also said the opposition had staged a walkout from parliament when the law was tabled. Justice Khawaja remarked that with the new law, an attempt had been made to provide immunity to the privileged class. In his remarks, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said the new contempt of court law had even rendered Article 204 ineffective. He said amending laws in a rush was not a good tradition, as laws were made for the public’s wellbeing. Earlier outside the Supreme Court building, Attorney General Irfan Qadir said the parliament had unlimited powers and amendments passed by it could not be challenged. Talking to reporters, the attorney general said it was incorrect to say that parliament could not reduce the powers bestowed upon the judiciary.

6 COMMENTS

  1. Following is a news report from Daily times. Read it and decide yourself what is the standard of Current SC. A court which cannot decide a petition for 3 years regarding Samoosa price, our media and blind followers of "ANGEL" CJ are fooling us that this man will get rid of all the problems we are currently facing. By the way a petition filed in SC to decide Samoosa price,HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Our judges have become a serious competitors for the likes of Ammanullah ,Sakhawat Naaz,etc.

    SC annuls samosa price notification

    LAHORE: The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside a notification of the Punjab government whereby the price of one samosa was fixed at Rs 6.

    A bench comprising Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and Justice Asif Saeed Khosa allowed an appeal moved on behalf of Punjab Bakers and Sweets Federation President Chaudhry Muhammad Afzal. In the year 2009, the district government of Lahore had fixed price of one samosa at Rs 6 and magistrates imposed fine on shopkeepers selling samosas at higher rate. The notification was challenged in the Lahore High Court, which dismissed the petition. Then it was challenged in the Supreme Court. The petitioner’s counsel said the impugned notification was unwarranted by law as samosa was not an item notified under the Punjab Foodstuffs (Control) Act 1958 and that the provincial government could not fix its price. It is pertinent to mention here that since the filing of appeal three years back, the price of samosa has jumped to Rs 15 in the market. staff report

  2. Following is a news report from Daily times. Read it and decide yourself what is the standard of Current SC. A court which cannot decide a petition for 3 years regarding Samoosa price, our media and blind followers of "ANGEL" CJ are fooling us that this man will get rid of all the problems we are currently facing. By the way a petition filed in SC to decide Samoosa price,HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Our judges have become a serious competitors for the likes of Ammanullah ,Sakhawat Naaz,etc.

Comments are closed.