LAHORE: A Lahore High Court (LHC) larger bench accepted on Monday unconditional apology of former president of the Multan High Court Bar Association Sher Zaman Qureshi and discharged contempt proceeding pending against him.

On the previous hearing, Mr Qureshi had appeared before the bench, headed by Chief Justice Muhammad Yawar Ali, for the first time since a bench headed by his predecessor, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, had initiated the proceedings against him and another lawyer last year. Both lawyers tendered their unconditional apology, which the bench accepted on Monday and discharged the contempt proceedings.

The former chief justice had initiated contempt proceedings against Qureshi and advocate Syed Qaiser Abbas Kazmi for misbehaving a judge at the Multan seat, obstructing judicial work and ransacking the court premises during an incident took place on July 24, 2017. They had also ripped off name plate of the judge.

Mr Qureshi never appeared before the court rather his supporters held protests on each hearing of the case against then chief justice Shah.

The bench headed by the former chief justice had also issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of Qureshi, however, withdrew the same after some senior bar’s leaders promised to make him produce before the court. However, Mr Qureshi refused to appear before the high court, however, made his appearance before the Supreme Court when Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar took notice of the contempt proceedings on his personal appeal. He also escaped arrest when a police team raided district courts in Multan.

On Sept 6, 2017, the Justice Nisar heard the appeal of Qureshi and summoned a report from the LHC registrar on the matter and also expected that the larger bench of the high court would not hold its further proceedings and wait for the decision. The new larger bench was constituted after the elevation of chief justice Shah to the Supreme Court.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2018