LAHORE – A contempt of court petition took an unexpected turn at the Lahore High Court when Chief Justice Aalia Neelum imposed a Rs100,000 fine on petitioner Ashba Kamran after she failed to properly explain an incorrect petition number cited in her application.
The proceedings involved a petition filed by Kamran against Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, the Punjab chief secretary and the speaker of the Punjab Assembly.
Appearing before the court herself, Kamran questioned whether the Constitution of Pakistan and Supreme Court orders were binding on everyone or merely on ordinary citizens.
She alleged that directions contained in paragraphs 9 to 11 of a Supreme Court order had not been implemented. She further argued that ignoring judicial orders could have serious consequences, referring to former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who was removed from office following contempt proceedings over non-compliance with a court order.
But the hearing soon shifted from the alleged non-implementation of the Supreme Court’s directions to the petitioner’s own case.
Chief Justice Aalia Neelum asked Kamran to provide the number of the original petition on which her contempt application was based. When the court examined the number mentioned in her application, a discrepancy emerged. The petitioner was unable to give the court a satisfactory explanation for the incorrect case number.
The development changed the course of the hearing, with the chief justice expressing displeasure over what she considered an unnecessary use of the court’s time. The court subsequently imposed a Rs100,000 fine on Kamran, making payment of the penalty a condition for the matter to proceed further.
The case will now be taken up after the petitioner deposits the imposed fine.
