Daily Times

LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has reserved the verdict on contempt proceedings against Lahore High Court Bar Association-Multan (LHCBA-Multan) President Sher Zaman Qureshi

Qureshi on Monday appeared before the newly constituted bench headed by Chief Justice Muhammad Yawar Ali and recorded his statement. He also submitted his written reply.

Qureshi in his statement said that he had a great respect for courts and could never thought of disrespecting them.

He appeared before the court for the first time since a bench headed by former Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah had issued him a notice under contempt court charges last year.

Former chief justice had initiated contempt proceedings against Qureshi and his one colleague for allegedly misbehaving with a justice at Multan seat, obstructing judicial work and ransacking the court premises before ripping off the name plate of the judge on July 24, 2017.

Earlier, a LHC bench headed by former chief justice Mansoor Ali Shah had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Qureshi for no-show but later withdrew its orders after some senior bar’s leaders assured the court that Qureshi would appear before the court.

Qureshi, however, appeared before the Supreme Court when Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar took notice of the contempt proceedings on his personal appeal.

On September 6, 2017, the CJP heard the appeal of Qureshi and summoned a report from the LHC registrar on the matter and also expected that the larger bench of the high court would not hold its further proceedings and would wait for the decision.

It might be mentioned Qureshi appeared before the LHC new bench after former LHC CJ Mansoor Ali Shah had been elevated to the apex court.

Published in Daily Times, February 20^th 2018.