KARACHI, March 21: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has agreed to attend the concluding function of the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court arranged by the Sindh High Court Bar Association on March 23 and the government should facilitate his participation as chief guest, SHCBA President Abrar Hasan told a press conference here on Wednesday.

Mr Hasan said the anniversary celebrations commenced with a function in Karachi and were scheduled to conclude with a dinner by the SHCBA. All Supreme Court and Sindh High Court judges have been invited to the function, he said.

Replying to questions, he said Justice Rana Bhagwandas was acceptable to the Bar as acting chief justice and chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council and any opinion rendered by the SJC would also be accepted. He, however, added that there was no provision for a ‘non-functional’ chief justice and appointment of an acting chief justice in the presence of the chief justice. About 45 ‘references’ or complaints were pending before the SJC and it was surprising why one reference had been taken up out of turn, the SHCBA chief said.

About the contempt petition against Advocate Naeem Bokhari, which was allowed to be withdrawn by Justice Iftikhar, he said it was moved by ‘an agency man’ to bring the judiciary into disrepute.

Earlier, SHCBA Vice-President Syed Ziauddin Nasir, Mohammad Rafiq Malik, Mohammad Iqbal Aqeel, Adnan Ahmed and Daniel Bakhsh observed a token hunger strike on Wednesday.