SC forms larger bench in contempt case against additional registrar

The Supreme Court (SC) Friday constituted a larger bench to hear the contempt of court case against Additional Registrar Judicial Nazar Abbas.

According to the 24NewsHD TV channel, a six-member larger bench of the SC headed by Justice Jamal Mandokhail will hear the case on January 27.

During the contempt proceedings on Monday, Nazar Abbas's plea for a stay order will also be heard.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court reserved its verdict in a contempt of court case against the additional registrar for failing to schedule a case involving the powers of constitutional and regular benches.

The case was heard by a regular bench comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi.

The proceedings were initiated after the additional registrar did not fix a plea filed by the federal government concerning the jurisdiction of normal benches to rule on constitutional matters.

The legal debate centres around whether regular Supreme Court benches can determine the validity of Article 191-A, introduced through the 26th Amendment, which established the constitutional bench.

During yesterday's proceedings, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah asked from where the judges committee got the powers to take back the case? Amis Curie Khawaja Haris said the committee can take back the case, as it is written in the law that which bench will hear which case.

Justice Aqeel Siddqui asked whether this contempt case can be referred to the full court? Khawaja Haris said the formation of a full bench is in the powers of the chief justice of Pakistan and not the judges committee.

Earlier, another amicus curiae, Hamid Khan, told the SC that a judicial order could not be replaced by an administrative one.

Justice Mansoor went on to say that the basic question was, How on earth could the judges' committee transfer the case to the constitutional bench when the judicial order existed at that time?

Hamid said it was not possible that some SC judges wielded more powers than their colleagues. He said that the definition of the apex court was clear. “According to the constitutional definition, all apex court judges could wield their powers. It is not that only some judges are entitled to do that.”

Justice Mansoor said that Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Aminuddin Khan were the committee members. “Prima facie, a two-member bench ignored the judicial order,” he said, and added that, in his opinion, a full court could be formed if the committee of judges overlooked the judicial order.

Justice Aqeel Abbasi opined he had doubts in his mind about that. Additional Registrar Judicial Nazar Abbas, who submitted his reply to the show-cause notice, prayed to the court to withdraw the notice, saying he had not committed contempt of court.

Reporter: Amanat Gishkori