ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has remarked ignoring the matter of PCO judges will mean return of doctrine of necessity.CJP gave these remarks while presiding over a 6-member bench of SC during the hearing of appeals filed by PCO judges against their indictment in contempt of court case.Attorney General filed reply from government side with regard to constitutional status of the PCO judges wherein it was said that proceedings against these judges could be initiated in Supreme Judicial Council under article 209 of the constitution.
The court expressed dissatisfaction over this reply saying it was asked from the government what constitutional statues it gives to PCO judges. But government has not given any reply.Raza Kazim counsel for PCO Judge Hamid Shah said reply given by the government had supported his stance that only supreme judicial council could initiate proceedings against PCO judges.Khalid Ranjha counsel for former chief justice of Lahore High Court (LHC) Iftikhar Hussain Shah said November 3 order was not in the knowledge of his client.Sheikh Zamir counsel for Justice Sajjad Shah also supported the stance of initiation of proceedings against PCO judges by supreme judicial council.“Several judges had taken oath under PCO and we had also taken oath under PCO. But parliament had endorsed it. But parliament did not approve the steps taken by former president Pervez Musharraf like emergency and PCO judges. The judges who are sitting here presently have rendered unprecedented sacrifices. They were kept under detention”, CJP remark
