CJ opts out from PCO judges, Khosa cases

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Muhammad Ahmad Noorani
ISLAMABAD: Following the universal ethical norms of justice and fair play and eliminating any possible doubt of partisanship by following the principle of “not before me”, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has separated himself from the bench that will hear the unconditional apology and contempt of court cases of PCO judges, including Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and that of former Attorney General Latif Khan Khosa.

Some public circles had openly suggested that the CJ should not graciously head the bench hearing these cases. The chief justice has formed a five member bench, headed by Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday and comprising Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice S Khawaja and Ghulam Rabbani.

The Supreme Court has issued notices of contempt of court to 26 judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts for violation of the historic verdict of the seven-member bench of the apex court, which was handed down on November 3, 2007. These judges had taken oath under Musharraf’s PCO despite the fact that the apex court had barred them to do so. Following the issuance of these notices, 13 judges have sought an unconditional apology from the Supreme Court.

The five-member bench will take up the cases of unconditional apology and contempt of court on November 2, 2009, while the Hamid Maghfoor Shah Vs State (Latif Khosa Corruption) case will be taken up on November 6, 2009.

The 13 judges who sought unconditional apology from the apex court include Justice (retd) Muhammad Afzal Soomro, Justice (retd) Tariq Shamim, Justice (retd) Maulvi Anwarul Haq, Justice (retd) Muhammad Khalid Alvi, Justice (retd) Muhammad Bilal Khan, Justice (retd) Dr Allama Khalid Mehmood, Justice (retd) Dr Rasheed Ahmad Jhalindri, Justice (retd) Mian Muhammad Najm-ul-Zaman, Justice (retd) Fazal Meeran Chohan, Justice (retd) Syed Sakhi Hussain Bokhari, Justice (retd) Syed Asghar Haider, Justice (retd) Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi (now Chief Justice of the Northern Areas Supreme Court) and Justice (retd) Bin Yamin.

The 13 judges who were issued contempt of court notices but didn’t seek apology include Justice (retd) Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry, Justice (retd) Khursheed Anwar Bhinder, Justice (retd) Hamid Ali Shah, Justice (retd) Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, Justice (retd) Hasnat Ahmad Khan, Justice (retd) Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi, Justice (retd) Akram Qureshi, Justice (retd) Yasmin Abbasi, Justice (retd) Hamid Farooq Durrani (now resigned), Justice (retd) Saeed Maeroof Khan (now resigned), Justice (retd) Jahanzeb Raheem, Justice (retd) Zahid Hussain (now sitting judge of the Supreme Court) and Justice (retd) Abdul Hameed Dogar.

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