ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request by former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to obtain an official and attested copy of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan’s reply submitted before the court in a contempt case.

The former top judge had sought the copy to support defamation charges he had filed against the PTI chief. The contents of the statement have been mentioned by the former chief justice in the defamation notice served on Imran.

According to Advocate Sheikh Ahsann-ud-Din, a lawyer close to the former chief justice, the printing branch of the apex court rejected the request today, saying Chaudhry was not an aggrieved party in the case and is therefore not permitted by Supreme Court rules by to obtain the documents.

The Supreme Court rules state that “a party to any cause, matter or appeal, who has appeared shall be allowed to search, inspect or get copies of all pleadings and other documents or records in the case”.

Court sources also confirmed that the printing branch had denied the request on the stated grounds.

The Supreme Court had on July 31 summoned Imran to face contempt charges after he made derogatory remarks against the judiciary.

Imran had criticised the judiciary and the Election Commission of Pakistan by describing their role as ‘sharmnak’ (shameful) in the alleged rigging in the general elections last year.