ISLAMABAD: Property tycoon Malik Riaz on Monday filed an intra-court appeal in the Supreme Court in relation to the contempt of court petitions against him, DawnNews reported.

The appeal was filed against his expected indictment for contempt of court in the light of the new contempt of court law.

The appeal stated that initial objections had been brought up during the hearing after which that the ruling to indict Riaz should not have come.

The appeal was returned by the SC Registrar with objections. However, it was resubmitted after the objections were addressed.

Earlier on Friday, the Supreme Court had decided to indict Riaz for making controversial remarks against Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry at a press conference.

The court’s order issued on Friday by a bench comprising Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed said: “Prima facie the case is fit for further proceedings. Adjourned for July 16, for framing of the charge.”

The bench hearing a case of contempt of court against the property tycoon also issued a notice to the attorney general to act as prosecutor in the case. The order said that in case the attorney general was not in a position to do so, he would depute a deputy attorney general for the purpose.

The bench had reserved its verdict on Thursday after hearing the arguments of Riaz’s counsel, Dr Abdul Basit, and other petitioners about the show-cause notice the court had issued on June 13 under Article 204 of the Constitution (Contempt of Court) read with Section 3 and 17 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance of 2003, Supreme Court Rules 1980 and all other enabling provisions in the law.