ISLAMABAD, April 10: Former law minister Babar Awan tendered on Tuesday an apology to the Supreme Court, especially to Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, for his utterances against the judiciary.

A two-judge bench comprising Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Athar Saeed, however, decided to consider the apology on April 18 when Mr Awan, who is currently attending a seminar abroad, will be present in the court.

Earlier, the court had fixed Tuesday to frame contempt charges against Mr Awan for his utterances at a press conference on Dec 1 last year soon after the apex court had ordered an investigation into the memo case by a one-man commission headed by Tariq Khosa, a former director general of the Federal Investigation Agency.

Mr Awan and some members of the federal cabinet had severely criticised the order and hit out at the family of Justice Saeed Khosa, who is a brother of Tariq Khosa.

When advocate Syed Ali Zafar, representing Babar Awan, invited the attention of the court to the unconditional apology tendered by his client, the bench sought the opinion of Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq over the absence of the accused when a date was fixed after consulting his counsel.

The AG said the accused had already pointed out the reasons for his absence by stating that the seminar was pre-fixed and he had to attend it.

After a brief hearing the court dispensed the appearance of Mr Awan for Tuesday, but said it would consider the implications of the apology on April 18.

In his apology, Mr Awan requested the court to discharge the contempt proceedings against him after accepting his regrets.