ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has announced its reserved verdict in the contempt of court case against Additional Registrar Nazar Abbas. The court has withdrawn the contempt notice issued against him and referred the matter of procedural and judges’ committee powers to the Chief Justice.
A two-member bench, comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Aqeel Abbasi, had reserved the decision on Thursday after hearing arguments from lawyers and court assistants. During the proceedings, the court also sought arguments on forming a full court.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had removed Nazar Abbas from his position as Additional Registrar Judicial over the non-scheduling of cases related to bench powers despite court orders.
In its decision, the court noted that Nazar Abbas did not deliberately violate court orders. It ruled that the judges’ committee and the constitutional committee had violated the court’s orders, but further proceedings against Nazar Abbas have been dropped.
According to media report ,the Supreme Court has recommended forming a full court to examine the powers of the committees and has referred the matter to the Chief Justice for further action.
The court stated that judicial orders cannot be altered at the administrative level. While the judges’ committees appear to be involved in overlooking judicial orders, no contempt proceedings are being initiated against them.
The decision addressed two main questions: whether a regular bench can withdraw a case when a judicial order is already in place and whether Nazar Abbas acted with malice. The court concluded that there was no evidence of bad intent on his part, and his explanation was accepted.
The court further said the Practice and Procedure Committee had withdrawn a case beyond its jurisdiction. It also noted that whether the judges’ committees ignored judicial orders is a matter to be decided by a full court. The Chief Justice has been asked to form a full court under Article 175(6) of the Constitution to address this issue.
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Regarding a Customs Act-related case, the court stated it was incorrectly withdrawn and must be re-heard by the original three-member bench.
It is also noted that Nazar Abbas has filed an intra-court appeal requesting the withdrawal of the show-cause notice issued against him. A six-member larger bench will hear this appeal today at 1 PM.
