ISLAMABAD: Former chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar challenged on Friday the return of his two petitions by the Supreme Court.

‘Yes we have challenged through two separate petitions the return of original petitions by the apex court,’ Advocate Ahmed Raza Qasuri, the counsel for Justice (retd) Dogar, told Dawn.

The Supreme Court had on Oct 28 returned the petitions questioning the incumbency of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and seeking reversal of the
July 31 judgment which also held unconstitutional the appointment of Justice Dogar as chief justice of Pakistan.

The court office had cited Order XVII Rule 5 of the Supreme Court Rules 1980 as reasons for not entertaining the petition against the incumbent chief justice since it was against the sitting judges who enjoy indemnity under the Judicial Officer Protection Act, 1850, and for it being ‘scandalous’.

Another objection was that no matter of public importance with reference to the enforcement of any of the fundamental rights conferred by the Constitution was involved and, therefore, it did not fall within the ambit of Article 184(3) of the Constitution.

Besides, the July 31 verdict by the 14-judge bench in which elevation of Justice Dogar as chief justice was held to be unconstitutional has already been maintained in the review petitions and thus attained finality.

Since the petitioner (Justice Dogar) was filing collateral proceedings and wanted to join the proceedings indirectly, the July 31 judgment could not be challenged, the list of objections said, adding that Justice Dogar also enjoyed no locus standi to file the petition.

Referring to the petition seeking review of the July 31 verdict, the objection said the prayer clause in the petition was not properly drawn. Besides, the petitioner seemed not interested in filing the petitions.

Moreover, scandalous and contemptuous language has been used against the
incumbent chief justice and judges of the Supreme Court and, therefore, the petition was not entertainable, it added.

Contempt proceedings

A five-judge bench comprising Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja and Justice Ghulam Rabbani will commence proceedings on Monday against judges who have decided to contest contempt of court notices.