News
Friday, January 06, 2012
SC asks Babar why he shouldn’t be struck off advocates’ roll* Apex court directs former law minister to submit reply by 9th
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Taking notice of Babar Awan’s reaction after he was served with a show-cause notice over the December 1 press conference in which he allegedly ridiculed the judiciary, the Supreme Court has sought explanation from him as to why his name should be not removed from the roll of the advocates of the apex court.
The court directed SC registrar to hand over copies of the notice and the DVD to Babar, which shall be furnished to him by the information se why his name should be not removed from the roll of the advocates. The proceedings of the reference were also postponed till the next hearing. An 11-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, while hearing the presidential reference regarding the revisiting of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto murder case, on Thursday noted that Babar Awan, while talking to media on Wednesday, berated the issuance of contempt of court notice to him by a two-member bench.
During the hearing, footage of Babar Awan was shown in the courtroom, which was watched by the senior members of the bar and Supreme Court Bar Association President Yasin Azad, and Pakistan Bar Council Vice Chairman Latif Afridi. Both condemned Babar’s remarks against judiciary. The bench noted that the content of the utterance, the gestures made and the body language were indicative of an attempt to ridicule the apex court.
The court said: “We are prima facie of the opinion that the conduct of Babar Awan is unbecoming for a lawyer,” therefore issued a notice to him under Rule 30 of Order IV of Supreme Court Rules 1980 to explain as to why his name should not be removed from the roll of Supreme Court on, or before, January 9. Babar Awan was enrolled as an advocate of Supreme Court on May 29, 2000, and was conferred the status of senior advocate of Supreme Court on May 29, 2008.
The Chief Justice said: “We believe that interaction between the Bench and the Bar depends upon mutual respect.” Irrespective of the fact which Bench issued the notice, the fact remains that it was part of the judiciary, therefore, a person who is a senior counsel and is appearing before the Supreme Court, should not have uttered these words. During the proceeding, after the playing of the footage, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja said, the court was not for an individual and people can criticise judges, but Babar Awan’s utterance on media was too much.
Latif Afridi, besides condemning the conduct of Babar, said these things should not have happened and in any case he would stand by the judiciary on the matter. A former president of SCBA, Aitzaz Ahsan, expressed regret, while adding that the ZAB Reference, sent by the president, was very important as the whole world’s eyes were focused on it. He said judiciary wanted democracy to flourish in the country, therefore in July 31 judgement, the court though declared Hameed Dogar’s appointment as chief justice of Pakistan unlawful, but validated the president’s oath. He said now some people intentionally or unintentionally wanted clash between the institutions.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk