ISLAMABAD: Former chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar on Saturday challenged the presence of two judges on a four-member Supreme Court bench constituted to hear contempt charges against him and other superior court judges. He said the two judges had been appointed on his recommendation.

“Propriety demands that Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez may kindly step down from the bench in the interest of justice and fair play so that the requirement of Article 10-A of the Constitution is fully met, which is now a fundamental right guaranteed to a citizen,” said an application moved by Ahmed Raza Khan Kasuri on behalf of Justice (retd) Dogar.

The oath of Justice Dogar, who was named the Supreme Court chief justice soon after the Nov 3, 2007, emergency imposed by former president Pervez Musharraf, was held unconstitutional by a 14-judge bench in its verdict on July 31 last year.

It also held illegal all actions taken by the former president, including the appointment of a number of judges.

The four-judge bench comprising Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawwad S. Khwaja, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez is to resume the hearing on Monday of contempt charges against Justice Dogar and other judges for taking oath under the PCO in defiance of a restraining order issued by a seven-judge bench on Nov 3, 2007.

Besides Justice Dogar, the other judges facing contempt charges are: Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry, a former chief justice of the Lahore High Court, and eight sitting judges — Justice Sayed Zahid Hussain of the Supreme Court and Justices Khurshid Anwar Bhinder, Hamid Ali Shah, Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, Hasnat Ahmed Khan, Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi, Yasmin Abbasey and Jehanzaib Rahim of different high courts.

This is the third challenge against the composition of the bench.

Earlier, Advocate Naeem Bokhari had filed an application on behalf of Justice Jehanzaib Rahim of the Peshawar High Court, expressing fears that he did not expect a fair trial as Justice Tariq Parvaiz, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui and Justice Jawad S. Khawaja had spoken critically of him at the peak of the judicial crisis as well as during the hearing.

On a similar objection raised by Justice Hasnat Ahmed Khan and Justice Shabbar Raza Rizvi through Dr Abdul Basit, Justice Mohammad Sair Ali, who was heading the larger bench, had voluntarily quit, but only after dismissing a joint petition moved by the two judges.

Dr Basit has already filed an intra-court appeal against the dismissal of the petition with a request that the proceedings be halted till the allegation of bias raised against members of the bench is decided.

On July 8, he had also objected to the presence of Justice Nasirul Mulk and Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed who since then chose not to sit on the bench.

In the fresh application, Justice Dogar said he had serious objections against the two judges as he had recommended them under Article 193 (appointment of high court judges) because of which Justice Hussain become a judge of the Sindh High Court and Justice Parvez was appointed Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court.

“When these judges took oath of their respective offices, they were in full picture that the applicant (Justice Dogar) had taken oath under the PCO on Nov 3, 2007,” the application said.

“In the above circumstances, it is prayed that both the judges may recuse themselves from the bench and refer the matter to Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to reconstitute a bench that guarantees a fair trial and due process to the applicant,” it added.