Supreme Court withdraws contempt notice against Additional Registrar Nazar Abbas

 File sent to Chief Justice for formation of full court on the authority of committees, Nizar Abbas did not intentionally commit contempt of court, therefore show cause notice of contempt of court against Nizar Abbas is withdrawn

Monday, January 27, 2025

Islamabad (Point Newspaper Latest. January 27, 2025) The Supreme Court has withdrawn the contempt of court notice against Additional Registrar Nazar Abbas, the file has been sent to the Chief Justice for the formation of a full court on the authority of the committees, a two-member bench comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Aqeel Abbasi has pronounced the verdict in the contempt of court case against Additional Registrar Judicial Nazar Abbas, the court ruled that the Practice and Procedure Committee and the Judges Constitutional Committee ignored the judicial order.

The decision states that Nazar Abbas did not intentionally commit contempt of court, the show cause notice of contempt of court against Nazar Abbas is withdrawn. The decision states that the file has been sent to the Chief Justice for the formation of a full court on the authority of the committees.

The Chief Justice of Pakistan should form a full court and look into this matter. The full court should look into this matter under Clause 6 of Article 175 of the Constitution.

The Supreme Court said in the decision that judicial orders cannot be changed at the administrative level. Prima facie, contempt of court proceedings are against judges' committees, but contempt of court proceedings are not being taken against judges' committees. The Supreme Court has terminated the show cause notice proceedings against Additional Registrar Judicial Nazarat Abbas. During the hearing, the court remarked that we had two questions before us.

Can a case be withdrawn in the presence of a judicial order from a regular bench and the second question was whether a judicial order can be terminated through an administrative order. The Supreme Court said in its decision that there is no malice in Nazar Abbas's action. Nazar Abbas's action does not fall under the category of contempt of court, we accept his explanation and terminate the contempt of court proceedings.

The bench said in its decision that the Practice and Procedure Committee did not have the authority to withdraw the case despite the judicial order. 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 decision said that the case related to the Customs Act was wrongly taken from us. The customs case should be set back before the same three-member bench that heard the case earlier.

The Supreme Court said in its decision that Nazar Abbas was not at fault, nor did he deliberately neglect to fix the case. There was no personal interest in Nazar Abbas not fixing the case. There is no malice in Nazar Abbas’s action. Nazar Abbas’s action does not fall under the category of contempt of court. We accept Nazar Abbas’s explanation and conclude the contempt of court proceedings.

It should be noted that earlier, Senior Judge of the Supreme Court Justice Mansoor Ali Shah had raised objections to the intra-court appeal bench in the contempt of court case against Additional Registrar Judicial Nazar Abbas. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah had objected to the inclusion of Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar in the bench. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah had written a letter to the Judges Committee in this regard.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah had written in his letter that he had suggested a five-member bench as a committee member for the intra-court appeal. Sources said that the Chief Justice said that a four-member bench would also be sufficient, and when the bench was formed, it included six judges. According to sources, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah wrote in the letter that Justice Jamal Mandokhel and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar were part of the Constitutional Committee.

The Constitutional Committee had assigned the case transferred from us to itself. Earlier, the Supreme Court had formed a six-member bench on the intra-court appeal of Additional Registrar Judicial Nazar Abbas. The Supreme Court had scheduled the intra-court appeal of Nazar Abbas for hearing on Monday, January 27. A six-member bench was formed under the chairmanship of Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel. Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Musarat Hilali were included in the bench.

It was informed that the larger bench will hear the intra-court appeal of the Additional Registrar Judicial at 1 pm. Earlier, the show cause notice of contempt of court was challenged by the Additional Registrar Judicial of the Supreme Court, Nazar Abbas. Earlier, the Supreme Court had reserved the decision in the contempt of court case against the Additional Registrar for delisting the bench powers case. Additional Registrar Supreme Court Nazar Abbas had submitted a reply to the show cause notice. In response to the show cause notice, Additional Registrar Nazar Abbas had requested the withdrawal of the show cause notice and had taken the stand that he had not disobeyed the court order, and had made a note on the matter of forming a bench on the court order and sent it to the Practice Procedure Committee.