SC two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Aqeel Abbasi announces reserved verdict, and holds that Practice and Procedure Committee and Judges’ Constitutional Committee ignored judicial order
ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-Jan 26th, 2025) The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday announced its reserved verdict and withdrew the contempt notice against Additional Registrar (Judicial) Nazar Abbas in a case related to the jurisdiction of the benches.
The top court held that the Practice and Procedure Committee and the Judges’ Constitutional Committee ignored the judicial order.
A SC two-member bench comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Aqeel Abbasi announced the reserved verdict, saying that Nazar Abbas did not intentionally commit contempt of court. The show-cause notice issued against Nazar Abbas for contempt of court was withdrawn.
The court’s verdict held that the Practice and Procedure Committee and the Judges’ Constitutional Committee overlooked the judicial order.
The matter regarding contempt of court against both committees would be referred to the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
In its decision, the bench said that the CJP should form a full court to address the issue.
During the hearing, the court remarked that two questions were before them: First, can a case be withdrawn from a regular bench in the presence of a judicial order? And second, can a judicial order be overturned through an administrative order?
The bench concluded in its ruling that the Practice and Procedure Committee did not have the authority to withdraw the case despite the judicial order.
Similarly, the Judges’ Constitutional Committee also did not have the authority to withdraw the case through an administrative order in the presence of a judicial order.
The top court held that there was no fault in Nazar Abbas’ actions, nor did he deliberately neglect to fix the case.
“There was no personal interest for Nazar Abbas in not fixing the case,” said the court, pointing out that there is no malice in Nadir Abbas’ actions, and his actions do not fall under the category of contempt of court.
The court accepted Nazar Abbas’ explanation and concluded the contempt of court proceedings.
The court ruled that the Practice and Procedure Committee had no authority to withdraw the case, as it lacked the required power.
The Judges’ Constitutional Committee also ignored the judicial order. Whether the Judges’ Committees overlooked the judicial order or not would be decided by the full court, as per a decision from a 14-member bench.
The court ruled that the matter should be sent to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, who would form a full court to examine the issue.
The full court would review the matter under Article 175, Clause 6 of the Constitution.
The Customs Act-related case was wrongly taken from us, and the case should be re-listed before the same bench that had originally heard it.
