SC resumes hearing of contempt law petitions

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) resumed hearing of various identical petitions challenging the Contempt of Court Act 2012 Monday, Geo News reported.

A five-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and including Justice Shakirullah Jan, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, resumed hearing of 27 identical petitions challenging the Contempt of Court Act, 2012.

During today’s proceedings, the lawyers representing the petitioners in the case continued their arguments against the law. In the previous hearing, the SC had directed them to conclude their arguments today.

Attorney General Irfan Qadir will open his arguments in defence of the contempt act today. A ruling is expected any time during the current week.

Earlier, Barrister Zafarullah Khan had argued that absurdity can’t be attributed to the legislature for enacting the Contempt of Court Act 2012 though it appears that a draftsman representing 180 people doesn’t know what exactly the law of the land is.

He said the contempt law was against the ground norm of the Constitution: The Objectives Resolution. It is a cornerstone of Pakistan’s legal edifice; it is a bond that binds the Nation and as a document from which the Constitution must draw its inspiration; it guarantees that no one is above the law; hence, no classification is allowed as done by Section 3 of the new act. The basic concept underlying this unalterable principle of sovereignty is that the entire body politic becomes a trustee for the discharge of sovereign functions. It is under this system that the government becomes a government of laws and not of men, for, no one is above the law, he said.