LAHORE: A third larger bench of the Lahore High Court formed to hear and decide petitions seeking contempt of court proceedings against former premier Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and other PML-N leaders dissolved after a judge recused himself from hearing the matter on Friday.
On April 04, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Yawar Ali constituted the three-judge bench, headed by Justice Mazahir Ali Akbar Naqvi and comprising Justice Shahid Jameel Khan and Justice Atir Mehmood, to hear the petitions.
Justice Shahid Jameel Khan declined to hear the matter today citing personal reasons.
Earlier, the bench was dissolved after Justice Shahid Mobeen declined to proceed with the case, dissolving the bench for the second time.
Last week, the LHC Chief Justice formed the bench, headed by Justice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi and comprising Justice Shahid Mobeen and Justice Aatir Mehmood, after Justice Shahid Bilal Hasan was transferred to the Multan bench.
The three-judge bench was formed to hear the petitions involving anti-judiciary speeches of the PML-N supreme leader and his daughter.
Earlier, the court had issued a notice to Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to submit comments, explaining the measures it has taken to stop the airing of anti-judiciary speeches by the duo.
The petitioners submitted that Sharif and his daughter had been severely criticizing the judiciary in their public speeches.
They said the regulatory body had so far failed to take any action to stop the airing of the speeches despite high court orders in this regard.
The petitioners pleaded with the court to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Sharif and his daughter and restrain them from maligning the judiciary.
