Pakistan: Islamabad High Court judges 'propose contempt proceedings' against meddling in judicial affairs

According to sources, the high court subject to the institutional consensus should exercise its contempt of court powers to counter meddling.

In compliance with the Supreme Court's order on April 3, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges proposed a "contempt proceeding" against any meddling in judicial affairs, Pakistan-based Geo News reported, citing sources privy to the matter. It was mentioned in the proposal submitted by the IHC judges to the Registrar of the Supreme Court earlier this week. According to sources, the high court subject to the institutional consensus should exercise its contempt of court powers to counter meddling.

Earlier this week, the IHC full court meeting chaired by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq was held to finalise proposals before submission to the apex court in connection with a matter related to the alleged interference by the spy agencies in judicial affairs. In March, six judges of the IHC, including Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir wrote a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), seeking its guidance on "interference" of the intelligence agencies in the courts' affairs, according to Geo News report.

The letter which was written by judges read, "We are writing to seek guidance from the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) with regard to the duty of a judge to report and respond to actions on [the] part of members of the executive, including operatives of intelligence agencies, that seek to interfere with [the] discharge of his/her official functions and qualify as intimidation, as well as the duty to report any such actions that come to his/her attention in relation to colleagues and/or members of the courts that the high court supervises." In this regard, the apex court, later, initiated suo motu proceedings on the letter and sought a proposal from the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), high courts, and the federal government, Geo News reported.

In their recommendations today, the IHC judges proposed a "high court administrative committee" to make a final decision on matters regarding alleged interference in the court's affairs, according to the sources. The committee then decided whether to look into the matter on the administrative or judicial side. Considering the seriousness of the matter, the sources quoting the judges recommendations stated that the committee should be empowered to send the case to the "full court." The recommendations included a 6 to 7-page draft proposing amendments to the judges' code of conduct.

The judges proposed that it should be made obligatory for the civil, session, and high court judges to report any kind of interference in the court's affairs within seven days of the incident, Geo News reported, citing sources. The sources further stated that the judges proposed that the judges will inform inspection judges regarding the alleged meddling, and the inspection judge will bring the matter to the knowledge of the chief justice of the high court concerned, Geo News reported.

According to sources, a judge who will not report regarding the alleged meddling within seven days should be considered guilty of misconduct. The sources further said that the judges suggested there shoud be "institutional response" to any kind of meddling. (ANI)

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