ISLAMABAD, Oct 5 The Supreme Court issued on Monday contempt notices to a number of judges for having taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order in defiance of a restraining order issued by a seven-judge bench on Nov 3, 2007 -- the day former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf declared an emergency.

“We consider it appropriate to issue notice of contempt of court to judges who were judges of the respective high courts on Nov 2 and were appointed after Nov 3 to Dec 15, 2007,” Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who is heading a 14-judge bench, announced after day-long proceedings on a set of review petitions moved by judges who were sacked in consequence of the July 31, 2009, verdict declaring the emergency as unconstitutional.

The chief justice observed that it had been held in the detailed judgment (July 31 order of unseating judges) that the restraining order by the seven-judge bench remained operative and, therefore, the judges were constitutionally, legally or morally bound to follow it.

A 14-judge bench of the Supreme Court had on July 31 declared Gen Musharraf's proclamation of emergency and actions taken under it, including the appointment of Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar as chief justice and a number of other superior court judges, as illegal and unconstitutional.

The bench had also declared the creation of Islamabad High Court under the emergency order as unconstitutional.

The chief justice divided judges' case into four categories. The first category related to judges who had taken oath under the PCO on Nov 3, 2007, in violation of the restraining order, the second to those who were appointed from Nov 3 to Dec 15 and the third to those appointed from Dec 15 till March 23, 2009, on the recommendations of Justice Dogar. The fourth category does not exist after the resignation of Justice Nasim Sikaner following the July 31 judgment.

The court office was directed to issue notices to the judges by name and seek explanation why proceedings may not be initiated against them under Article 204 (contempt of the court) of the Constitution read with Section 8 of the Contempt of the Court Act.

A contempt notice was also issued to Justice (retd) Zulfikar Ali Bokhari, the spokesman for the unseated judges, for his outburst against the judiciary published in two Urdu newspapers.

“Prima facie, the publication of adverse statements on behalf of Mr Bokhari tantamounts to contempt because of the language he used,” the court said.

Mr Bokhari, who was present in the courtroom, contradicted the statement.

The court ordered that notices be issued to the printer and publisher of the newspapers to produce the required material and said that if the statements were found to be incorrect, action would be taken against the person responsible.

“There are some judges who have violated the command of this court,” Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday said, adding that it was a serious matter, and if not checked timely then even a police inspector would defy “us in future”.

“You don't know the pain we underwent while rendering the July 31 judgment as they (unseated judges) were our brothers,” Justice Ramday said, adding that judiciary was functioning in vacuum from Nov 3, 2007, till March 23, 2009.

“If you issue a notice to a judge, will it be under Article 209 (Supreme Judicial Council) or Article 204,” asked Advocate Wasim Sajjad, the counsel for one of the petitioners.

“Do not talk about the merit of the case because they (judges) have come to us. Two of our judges (Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokhar and Justice M. Javaid Buttar who recently resigned) realised what they have done,” the chief justice said.

Mr Sajjad was of the view that issuing notices to judges would lower dignity of the court.

The CJ recalled that it was for the first time in the judicial history that the court had passed a restraining order when the entire court building was under the control of the army. “We have not used a single word against the dignity of the judges,” he added.

Meanwhile, one of the movers of the petition that had led the apex court to declare the Nov 3 PCO illegal withdrew his review petition because all the issues had been cleared in the detailed judgment. Justice (retd) Naseem Sikander also withdrew his review petition.

The review petitions were filed by Justices (retd) Sayed Sajjad Shah, Munib Ahmed Khan, Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui, Mohamamd Ahsan Bhoon, Syed Asghar Hyder, Tariq Shamim, Anwarul Haq Pannu, Yasmeen Abbasey, Qaiser Iqbal, Ali Sain Dino Metlo, Zubda-tul-Hussain, Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, Khurshid Anwar Bhandir, Hassanat Ahmed Khan, Syed Hamid Ali Shah, Syed Zulifqar Ali Bukhari, Nasim Sikandar, M. Bilal Khan, Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi, Mohammad Ramzan Chaudhry, Ali Akbar Qureshi, Jahanzeb Rahim and Abdul Rehman Farooq Pirzada.

The case will be taken up again on October 12.