Court contempt suo moto: IHC judge summons additional, deputy registrars

ISLAMABAD: Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan directed the Islamabad High Court (IHC)’s additional registrar and the deputy registrar to appear before his court on the next hearing.

A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan on Wednesday issued the directions in a suo moto contempt of court proceedings initiated after removal of Mishal Yousafzai case from the cause list of his court.

Justice Ishaq initiated the contempt proceedings after a case related to the Adiala Jail superintendent’s failure to arrange a meeting between the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his lawyer, Mishal Yousafzai, was removed from the cause list.

During the hearing, the office placed the memorandum on file per the last orders of the court, but due to paucity of time and due to the absence of the Advocate General for being abroad, the case could not proceed.

Therefore, the judge directed the office to produce the original files of all the cases cited in the memorandum to support their stance that, in the past, cases had indeed been transferred without the concurrence of the judges hearing these cases by the Chief Justice to a larger Bench. He added that the AG is also expected to have reviewed the files of those cases to assist the Court.

Justice Ejaz noted in his written order, “Since this matter concerns a pivotal aspect of the independence of judiciary and transparent administration of justice, the Court requires the assistance of amici in this case.”

“Faisal Siddiqui, ASC, and Adeel Wahid, AHC, are appointed as amici. The office is directed to convey copies of this order along with copies of the entire case file and the order sheets to the learned amici within 3 working days, so that they can extend preliminary assistance on the next date. Should the learned amici so wish, they can participate online, in which case the office will make the necessary arrangements,” maintained the judge.

Then, he deferred hearing of the case till May 16 and directed the Additional Registrar and the Deputy Registrar, who prepared the memorandum on file, will also appear.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025