The Supreme Court is awaiting explanation from the judges of the superior courts for violating its restraining order of November 3, 2007 that barred judges not to take oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO), however, the case took a bizarre twist on Monday when composition of the 14-member bench was questioned by a former judge of the Peshawar High Court.
Having not received any reply from former Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi (Chief Judge of the Supreme Appellate Court, Gilgit-Baltistan) and many other superior court judges, the court once again served contempt notices and called for an explanation.
Advocate Naeem Bokhari, counsel for former PHC judge Barrister Jahanzeb Raheem raised objection over the presence of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan in the bench by claiming the possibility of bias against Jahanzeb.
Earlier, Barrister Jahanzeb had expressed his dissatisfaction in a letter over the decision taken by the apex court bench comprising Justice Chaudhry and Justice Shakirullah Jan in a property dispute to which he was a party to former President Musharraf.
The stance adopted by Advocate Naeem Bokhari led to exchange of some heated arguments with the bench. "If you have no confidence in the bench, withdraw your petition," the Chief Justice observed. I will not withdraw my petition, replied Naeem Bokhari, adding that if I could not prove my point, I am ready to face contempt.
Have you come to intimidate us, asked the CJ, adding that we will not let you pass any scandalous statement. A 14-member bench of the apex court was hearing 31 review petitions filed by judges of high courts against July 31 decision, which had declared the steps taken by former President Pervez Musharraf. In addition, as many as 100 judges were terminated who took oath under the PCO or were appointed in consultation with justice Dogar. The court had also held that Dogar was never a CJP.
On October 5, the court had issued contempt of court notices to high court judges but on October 9, the court rectified its earlier order and served notices to the apex court judges as well. On Monday, 11 judges seeking review withdrew their petition with unconditional apology and some 22 judges who had not filed review petitions also tendered unconditional apology.
Besides, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry the bench comprising Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jilani, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed, Justice Ghulam Rabbani, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, Justice Muhammad Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jafferi is hearing the case.
On Monday, the question regarding the maintainability of review petitions prevailed. However, counsels for the terminated judges, seemingly, could not satisfy the court on the point that a person who is not party to the case is entitled to file the review petition.
Justice Ramday observed that while passing July 31 order, we were conscious about judges who had violated restrained order of November 3, 2007 but had not issued contempt notice merely because they were judges of the superior courts. "We issued contempt notice only after they (judges) come to us against July 31 order," observed the Chief Justice adding that judges never yearn for the service but these review seekers are asking for their services. After hearing preliminary arguments, the court adjourned the matter for today (Tuesday).