LAHORE: A contempt of court case pending before the Lahore High Court against Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Yasmin Abbasi took an unprecedented turn on Thursday when the ‘contemnor’ (ombudsperson) issued a show-cause notice to the judge instead of appearing before him despite issuance of her arrest warrants.

The show-cause notice by the ombudsperson was issued at a time when Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, hearing the contempt case, summoned Islamabad police chief to explain his failure to ensure compliance of the non-bailable arrest warrants of Ms Yasmin Abbasi.

A DSP appeared before the court on Thursday and said the Islamabad IG was not available due to his official engagements in the federal capital.

On previous hearing, Justice Shah had summoned the IG if the ombudsperson was not produced by the police.

Pakistan Bar Council member Azam Nazir Tarar being an amicus curie assisted the court on the matter and said the ombudsperson had ridiculed the court. He suggested the court to send a reference to the President against the ombudsperson.

Justice Shah observed that contempt of the court could not be tolerated in any case. “Should we close the courts if judicial orders are not implemented,” the judge asked a deputy attorney general.

The law officer said non-appearance of the IG was regrettable. He assured the court that the IG would appear before the court on Friday (today) to explain non-compliance of the warrants for the arrest of the ombudsperson.

The show-cause notice issued by the ombudsperson says, “Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah has grossly flouted his code of conduct and conducted himself in a manner which is unbecoming of a judge.”

Calling the senior puisne judge of LHC Justice Shah a ‘contemnor’, the notice further says, “The contemnor continued to hamper and undermine the dignity and functioning of this office (federal ombudsperson).”

It states that unfortunately all limits of decency or legality were bypassed and disregarded at the behest of the ‘contemnor’ when a police team illegally entered the office of the ombudsman with intrusive and invasive behaviour.

The notice says, “The above facts constitute a sufficient basis for this office to initiate contempt proceedings against the ‘contemnor’, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah through the issuance of present show-cause notice.”

“You are, therefore, required to explain and appear in person on May 10 at 10am before the office of federal ombudsman for protection against harassment of women at workplace, Islamabad, as to why you may not be proceeded against for contempt of this office under section 12 of Federal Ombudsman Institutional Reform Act 2013 and section 17 of contempt of court ordinance 2013,” the notice states.

Ms Yasmin Abbasi was terminated from service as judge of the Sindh High Court for taking oath under the Nov 3, 2007 PCO promulgated by Musharraf.

Talking to Dawn, Advocate Azam Nazir Tarar says the high court is a supreme authority and no individual or institution is above its constitutional jurisdiction. He says the office of the federal ombudsperson is a creation of a subordinate legislation and is answerable to the courts.

Mr Tarar says the show-cause notice issued by the ombudsperson is a clear contempt of the high court and nothing more than an act of insanity.

Advocate Saleem Javed had filed the contempt petition before the high court seeking an action against the ombudsperson for violating a stay order of the court.

Counsel for the petitioner-lawyer stated that a woman associate of his client had filed a complaint with the ombudsperson on charges of harassment. However, he said, the high court had stayed the proceedings on the complaint before the ombudsperson.

He told the court that the ombudsperson ignored the stay order and continued proceedings on the complaint. The counsel sought action against the ombudsperson under contempt of court law. He pointed out that the ombudsperson also ignored court’s notices and had been avoiding her appearance.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2016