Everyone, including chief justice, are bound to follow court orders: Justice Aqeel Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Justice Mansoor Ali Shah issued a show-cause notice to Additional Registrar Nazar Abbas and personally summoned him for “not scheduling” a case related to the chambers’ powers.  The hearing, presided over by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah as part of a three-judge bench including Justice Ayesha Malik and Justice Aqeel Abbasi, dealt with the case of the court’s constitutional and procedural powers.  Barrister Salahuddin, representing one of the parties, appeared before the court and informed that he had traveled from Karachi only for this case, but the cause list was not issued despite the court ordering the case to be scheduled for Monday.  Justice Mansoor Ali Shah observed that the court was not informed about the matter and ordered the immediate summoning of the additional registrar to clarify the delay.  During the hearing, Deputy Registrar Zulfiqar Ahmed spoke and explained that another registrar was on leave due to ill health. Justice Shah asked why the court’s directive to schedule the case was not followed.  The Deputy Secretary replied that the Judicial Commission had decided to schedule a case related to the amendments for January 27 before the Constitutional Court. Justice Shah expressed surprise and said that as a member of the committee he was not aware of such a decision.  Justice Ayesha Malik questioned how the administrative committee could ignore the court order and asked why the list of causes for the week was changed, noting that the tax cases were originally scheduled.  During the hearing, Judge Ayesha Malik noted: “In my entire judicial career, I’ve never seen a case disappear like this.” Justice Aqeel Abbasi added that all individuals, including the Chief Justice, were bound by court orders. In response, Deputy Secretary Zulfiqar Ahmed informed the bench that he had not yet received the minutes of the meeting from the referee committee.   The court ordered the presentation of the resolution and minutes of the meeting of the panel of arbitrators and requested any written instructions on changes in the list of causes.  Issuing a summons to refer the matter to the Additional Secretary, the court ordered an explanation as to why the case was not scheduled as per the guidelines. The meeting was adjourned until Tuesday, another secretary was summoned in person.