LAHORE, March 28: A petition was filed on Wednesday in the Supreme Court, challenging the presidential reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

Filed by the Save Judiciary Committee of the high court bar association, the petition has called in question the constitution of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), terming it unconstitutional.

Petitioners Rashid Qureshi and Mian Jamil Akhtar, the convener and secretary of the committee, submitted that the president by virtue of two separate orders suspended the chief justice, for which he had no powers under article 209 of the Constitution.

They maintained that it was also unconstitutional that Gen Pervez Musharraf declared the chief justice nonfunctional and appointed an acting chief justice.

All those responsible for violating the constitution in this regard were clearly guilty of subverting the constitution and violating Article 6 of the constitution, they said.

Petitioners said the government on March 15 by ordering to send the chief justice on forced leave itself admitted that its earlier orders were unconstitutional wherein the chief justice had been suspended.

They also challenged the SJC composition, saying that references of misconduct were pending against two of its members.

They prayed that reference pending against the chief justice before the SJC might be declared unlawful and unconstitutional. They further prayed that the SJC composition was unconstitutional, having no authority to hold proceedings in the reference. —Staff Reporter