Contempt of Court bill sails thru Senate

In an apparent bid to save the new prime minister from disqualification, the Senate passed a bill that would exempt senior government figures from contempt of court proceedings, brushing aside severe criticism from opposition as well as treasury benches.

It is vital to mention here that the bill had already been passed by the National Assembly on Monday, aiming at removal of judicial powers under the Contempt of Court Act 2012.

The president, prime ministers, ministers and chief ministers under the new law will be immune from concept of contempt of court proceedings under Article 284-1 of the Constitution.

It reads, “Criticism of court orders, if made in the appropriate language, would not be contempt of court”. Apart from that other necessary provisions relevant to contempt of court proceedings have also been included in the new bill.

Federal Minister for Law Farooq H Naik has presented the bill in the National Assembly, which will allegedly provided cover to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf from possible disqualification by the Supreme Court under contempt of court law.

However, the bill faced strong opposition not only from opposition but also from treasury benches in the Upper House of the Parliament.

Barrister Aitzaz, Senator Raza Rabbani and Mushahid Hussain Syed, the three renowned lawmakers voiced strong reservations against passage of the bill in haste.

They also warned the government no t to go for legislation abruptly ad rather debate it and remove the controversial clauses from the bill, which were a way for an executive-judiciary clash.

While adopting a cautious approach towards the bill, Aitzaz Ahsan said two clauses were controversial and it would not take long to declare them ultra-vires of constitution if the Supreme Court’s attention was diverted towards both of them,.

In his view, the said clauses were in conflict with Article 204, urging the law minister to review the clause one of the Section 3 of the bill and the sub-section 3 of the clause 11.

He noted, “Whenever such legislation is made in haste, it benefits the government and its ministers. However, whenever the party which introduces such a law goes to the opposition benches, they have to face the music and the same party is reminded that they had introduced the same law”.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jul 12 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.