PESHAWAR: A senior lawyer on Monday filed a contempt petition in the Peshawar High Court against the Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) for allegedly declaring judiciary in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the most corrupt institution in its recent National Corruption Perception Survey.

In the petition, Shabbir Hussain Gigyani, who is a Supreme Court advocate, requested the high court to prohibit the anti-graft watchdog from publishing ‘false, fake and factitious’ reports.

He also sought the court’s orders for the government to monitor the functioning of the organisation and regulate their acts and action.

The respondents in the petition are the TIP’s country director, media head and publisher.

The petitioner has referred to the reports of national and international media about the TIP’s National Corruption Perception Survey (NCPS), 2022, which identified the sectors “perceived as the most corrupt at national and provincial levels.”

Senior lawyer insists anti-graft watchdog called KP judiciary most corrupt institution

The survey report, seventh in the last 21 years, was released on Dec 9 on the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, judiciary was the most corrupt sector followed by the tendering and contracting, and the police, according to the TIP survey’s findings mentioned in a news item as claimed in the petition.

The petitioner said that the survey was reported by print and electronic media, while its findings went viral on social media as well.

He said that the survey report not only scandalised courts, judges and judicature but also tried to “bring the same into hatred, ridicule and derogatory position.”

The petitioner said being a student of law and member of the bar council, he prayed the court to invoke to the jurisdiction conferred on it under Article 204 of the Constitution read with sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003, along with other relevant laws.

He contended that apart from scandalising the courts, the alleged contemners had also attacked the character of the judges and judicial officers, and blemished the quality of the judicial work.

The petitioner contended that the alleged contemners had tried their best to attack the independence of judiciary, which was one of the main features and hallmarks of the Constitution.

He claimed that for unidentified reasons, the contemners intended to make a self-made chaos and pave the way for a clash between judiciary and the people.

The petitioner contended that the release of the survey report was tantamount to abusing the freedom of expression as it didn’t have any cogent source or evidence of its contents.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2022