Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry on Monday said the court’s powers could not be curtailed with any step of the parliament while rejecting the federation’s plea for formation of full court to hear the petitions against the recently passed contempt of court law, and directed the petitioners to complete their arguments by today (Tuesday).
But a remark made by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry might have jolted the Presidency that said that under Article 248 of the constitution, no one enjoyed “blanket cover of immunity” and the immunity was only restricted to the official business.
A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Chaudhry, Justice Shakirullah Jan, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Jawad S Khawaja and Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani heard the petitions challenging amendments to the contempt law. The federation was being represented by Justice (r) Abdul Shakoor Paracha. Paracha submitted that the notice issued to him said of only 16 petitions; however, he has just come to know that 26 petitions were pending before the court over the issue. Hence, a full court should hear the case instead of five-judge bench. He also requested that due to its significance, the case should be heard by the full court and that the federation should be given a time of one to two weeks over the petitions against the contempt law.
Responding to Paracha’s request, the chief justice said that the court had already given ample time to the federation, adding that the issue was significant and a decision over it was important.
Moreover, Attorney General Irfan Qadir requested the court for a period of two weeks. He said that a case such as the one against the contempt of court law had not been heard in the country’s history.
Justice Iftikhar said that a case of similar nature had been heard in the court in 1996 by a four-judge bench headed by Mian Ajmal Abbasi, the then chief justice of the Supreme Court. The attorney general read out the 1996 bench’s ruling and said that contempt of court laws have been evolving in several parts of the world. Also during the hearing, counsel for petitioner Baz Muhammad Kakar argued that the judiciary’s independence was guaranteed in the preamble to the constitution.
Upon which, Justice Jilani said that contempt of court laws were an extension of the concept of rule of law. He moreover said that as long as system of justice prevailed, laws pertaining to contempt of court would continue to exist. The chief justice said that only constitutionally valid changes could be made in the law regarding contempt of court.
The chief justice further said no act by the parliament can slash the jurisdiction of the judiciary, elaborating that some measures mentioned in 1973 Constitution were exempted from the definition of contempt of court. However, this exemption was abolished with the 18th Amendment, he added. Subsequently, the court directed the petitioners to conclude their arguments by Tuesday and adjourned the hearing. The contempt of court law had been hurriedly passed by the ruling government in a bid to protect the incumbent prime minister from facing the same fate as his predecessor.
The law exempts “holders of public office” from the mischief of contempt in “exercise of powers and performance of functions” and allows for suspension of a sentence during the pendency of an appeal. The main opposition party in the National Assembly, the PML-N, had objected to the passage of the law saying it was not sent to relevant standing committees for deliberations.
The petitions: In all, there are 26 petitions against the act and one of the petitioners, Baz Muhammad Kakar, contends that Section 3(i) of the new act curtailed the power and jurisdiction of the court under Article 204(2) of the constitution to punish ‘any person’ who abused, interfered with or obstructed the process of the court in any way or disobeyed any order of the court.
It also violated Article 25 which guaranteed equal protection of the laws, he said. A petition filed on behalf of the Save Judiciary Movement by Advocate Hashmat Habib pleads that the law should be struck down because it goes against the Quran and Sunnah and that the Contempt of Court Ordinance of 2003 be restored.
Justice Jawad S Khawaja remarked that all petitioners in 26 petitions have requested the court to set aside the Contempt of Court Act 2012 except the plea of Pakistan Bar Council.
Justice Tassaduq Jillani remarked that he was concerned about the administration of justice, adding, “If our judgements are not regarded, how would the administration of justice be possible?” During proceedings, the chief justice remarked that the contempt of court law could only be changed within the limits of article 204 of the constitution. Petitioners Ikram Chaudhry, M Zafar, Mahmood Akhtar Naqvi also completed their arguments with regard to the amendments to the contempt of court law.
Now is the time to go for the kill. The public sentiment is with the judiciary. The judges should stop dancing around the issues and get rid of he zardari, gillani and the likes for good. The nation would honor them as heroes and they would be remembered as saviors of Pakistan. The time is now!!!
Public sentiment has been expressed in NA 151. There verdict is against this biased & highly politicized judiciary.
@Muhammad. After being the Prime Minister for four and a half years and spending over 5 billion ruppees of the public money in his own town, his son only wins by less than 6000 votes. The writing is crystal clear. Without his father as prime minister and without the billions in tax payers money, his future is doomed. Besides being the product of gillani's sperm, can you name the resons why qadir gillani should be in the NA? What good has he done for the common people? What reputation does he carry? What are his qualifications?
Well said Daddy cool. CJ needs to make avail of this opportunity & even make use of the fake support of PMLN & totally destroy this corrupt govt.'s intentions.
Finally a prayer: Death to jiyalas.
The biggest problem of Pakistan is its corrupt middle class of central Punjab urban areas which has risen to its present status through sheer corrupt practices in business and jobs. This is a faked middle class and is hypocritically eschews religious zeal and false chauvinism and every time is ready to dig out democracy
@Kamil. Please refrain from using words that are bigger than yourself. It becomes very evident that you are being fed. And please try to get over your inferiority complex just because you are not a Punjabi. If you want to talk about the issues, we can talk about the economic state of affairs of the country, the law and order situation, the supremacy of the parliament, the inflation rate, out of turn promotions, nepotism, growth rate, literacy rate, harmony among the provinces, qualification for high level jobs, respect for the law and on and on. However, I seriously doubt that you have the intellect or the wit to carry such conversations. You must be a jiayala 🙂
I am a Punjabi and live in Lahore but I know the problems of Pakistan. Unlike you who hv just a corporate boss mentality with no touch to a common man. You suffer from typical middle class complex. Intellectuals all over the world have written much about this complex. You hate PPP because poor people support it and that reflects your inferiority complex rather than mine. My advice is study some serious material rather than writting jokes. What do u know about economy? If I put some questions about economy, you will be in a fix. I come across such pseudos daily and pull out balls out of them. How can Law and Order improve if a govt is rendered dysfunctional by court interference every other day. Defeat is in your destiny. Time is on the side of liberal democratic forces.
@Kamil, being a Punjabi & having witnessed many punjabi (Ive not traveled to Sindh or Balochistan as yet) act like they own the law, I do agree, with caveats.
Yes there certainly are people like PMLN Sharif scums, Gilani filth, R.Malik vileness that has spread from Punjab but its up to all of us, be us Punjabi, Sindhi, KPK or Balochi to rise up against these corrupt selfish illiterate people & bring peace across Pakistan. We can do it only if we are together.
Death to every jiyala, my prayer.
No more corruption. Every political office holder is subject to the laws of Pakistan.
these judges should be held for contempt of people. they are violating the constitution and should be hanged publicly.
Nor can judiciary curtail the powers of parliament, these judicial disco dancers should realize that too!
Judiciary is destroying constitution and democracy and it must be restrained by power of the people otherwise this country would have no future at all.
@Muhammad Correctly said. These people hv become judicial disco dancers and have no love for Pakistan or democracy in their hatred for Zardari
I am wondering what CJ is up to. He wants to deprive Parliament of its legislative powers. In last 4 years he has brought the country to a stand still and he responsible for our economic woes. Investors from foreign countries are shirking away due to attitude of SC.
Media and Judiciary alliance has brought Pakistan to a stand still. Now enough is enough and democratic govt must curtail their wings.
@Mohammad and @Kamil. Your sifarshi jobs as chaprasi at some 15th grade officer will not be in jeopardy just because the ppp gets kicked out of the govt. Even if you do lose your jobs, you always have the option of going back to being the sweepers at some ppp leaders house. A couple of dollars difference a month in pay would not affect your lifestyles much anyway 🙂
GO shut ur mouthyou alwas bark
IT IS THE SADARE PAKISTAN WHO HAS BEEN MADE SUPREME BY NOT BANNING HIS DUEL FUNCTION,POLITICAL,PARTISAN BLATANT ROLE.JUDICIARY SLEPT OVER IT AND NOW HE IS THE DEVIL IN ACTION FOR 55 LAST MONTHS IN CONCERT WITH HIS DEVIL COALITION PARTNERS.STILL TIME TO BAN HIM AND DISQULIFY HIM TO SAVE COUNTRY
I suggest hanging… and nothing less than hanging.
One cannot help laughing at your desi style of English with structural mistakes in abundance. You must be some upstart to have taunted people like that. Dont be proud of your newly gained wealth.I wonder how many times you would be getting shit from your boss because of your crappy writing skills. Empty minded corporate bosses like you try to interfere in politics without knowing a bit about it. It is not an easy undertaking and just one day in jail will make you cry. You seem to be fed by some intelligence agency. All Nalaiq people join spy agencies because they r able to do nothing.
Winning a seat in Multan by a small margin does not mean you do what ever you like. Just probe the assets of Gilanis what they were five years back and what they own now. If the Parliament is supreme then wy dont you pass a gay marriage bill.
SP is the most supreme court in the country,whereas the parliament is comprised of bargained elements and they have onlt a fixed time.due to greddiness their interests had been bought by the so-called champios od democracy.Hence the parliament has little signifance where as sp is everlasting instition in the country.CJP IS RIGHT.
Public sentiment has been expressed in NA 151. There verdict is against this biased & highly politicized judiciary.
Comments are closed.