Summary The apex court decided to indict Chairman NAB on April 2 in contempt case.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected NAB chairman’s plea for shifting the case to some other bench and decided to indict him on April 2.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry resumed hearing of contempt case against Chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Admiral retired Fasih Bukhari.
As the hearing begin, NAB chief’s counsel Naveed Rasool prayed to the apex court for shifting the case to some other bench.
While referring to the Contempt of Court Ordinance, Naveed Rasool argued that a judge cannot hear the contempt case against any individual who has registered a complaint against him.
He told Chief Justice that continuation of the case hearing by him would give a negative impression.
The apex court had issued a show-cause notice under Article 204 of the Constitution read with Section 3 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003 to NAB chairman over a strongly-worded letter critical of the judiciary written by National Accountability Bureau Chairman Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari to President Asif Ali Zardari.
During case proceeding today, NAB chief’s counsel also read out the context of the letter.
In the Jan 27 letter to the president, Admiral Bokhari described how the superior judiciary through its notices and verbal and written orders had attempted to undermine the constitutional position of the bureau.
On this, the Chief Justice remarked that every angle will be looked into whenever someone points finger at judiciary’s dignity and superiority.
Justice Gulzar remarked that Chairman NAB’s letter was not written against a single judge, indeed, the Supreme Court was targeted.
Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed told Naveed Rasool that name of the Supreme Court was mentioned ten times in the letter, it clarifies that whole judiciary was criticized by the Chairman NAB.
