ISLAMABAD - Two more petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday against Contempt of Court Act 2012, praying it should be set aside and declared as having been enacted without lawful authority and jurisdiction, as being unconstitutional.
President Karachi Bar Association Mehmood-ul-Hassan and former President Islamabad High Court Bar Association Ch. Muhammad Ashraf Gujjar have filed the petitions under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, making Federation through Secretary Cabinet Division and Secretary Ministry of Law and Justice as respondents.
On July 10, 2012 Muhammad Siddique Baloch through Ikram Chaudhry and Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi, a social worker have also filed the petitions against new contempt law. After the approval of bill by the Parliament President Asif Ali Zardari also signed the bill on Thursday and now has become law.
Ashraf Gujjar has prayed that all the new sections, clauses & provisions introduced into ‘the Contempt of Court Act, 2012, are not only contrary to the law rather this irrational an illogical Act is aimed at lowering the authority of this court, compromising and undermining its respect, prestige and honour, thus, making it a laughing stock, hence, the same be declared as null and void and nullity in the eye of law and inconsistent with the Constitution.
If the impugned Act is allowed to remain in field then in addition to the elite class belonging to the power-corridors, every other person in the country may also feel tempted to defy the court’s orders, judgment or directions, which may lead to a collapse or paralysis of administration of justice, resulting into a jungle society, besides creating an atmosphere wherein judicial authority and verdicts are flouted in the air and ridiculed.”
It is incumbent upon the legislature to make and frame the law in generality, keeping in view the whole country and nation, whereas, instant impugned Act has been enacted to save and benefit a very few corrupt personalities, who are close to the power centre, it stated.
The petitioners said the enactment of the Contempt of Court Act, 2012, amounts to an attack with a view to have a paralysed and weak judiciary. The judiciary in general and the Supreme Court in particular are being punished for their move to curb the menace of massive corruption undertaken by the persons belonging to the power corridors, they added.
The said act of the present government, introducing malicious provisions in sheer contradiction to the existing Contempt Law and against the spirit of Constitution, amounts to ridiculing, maligning and tarnishing the respect, honour and dignity of the judiciary, the petitions said.
“This malafide act of the government/respondents, if allowed to remain in the field, will take away the dream of an independent judiciary and rule of law.”
They stated that the Contempt of Court Act, 2012, has been passed by the Parliament in sheer violation of the basic spirit of the Constitution, which is also against the basic norms of the democratic form of government and injunctions of Islam.
That by introducing and enacting the said law by the government, the corrupt elements, who make their way through to the power corridors, will be protected and there will be no institution to check their malafides, illegalities and ulterior designs, they stated.