ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court stopped on Friday all PCO judges facing contempt charges from issuing any order against it, in what is being seen here as a move to avert a confrontation.

While a four-judge SC bench is to initiate a contempt trial against seven sitting but non-functional judges and two retired judges of superior courts on Monday, Jahanzeb Rahim, a non-functional judge of the Peshawar High Court, had on Thursday issued a counter-contempt notice against the members of the bench.

But on Friday, a special seven-judge SC bench issued a blanket order for all judges facing contempt charges that they must refrain from issuing any order against an apex court judge.

The bench was hearing intra-court appeals of two non-functional judges — Justice Hasnat Ahmad Khan and Justice Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi.

“We are constrained to pass an order that all the six high court and one Supreme Court judges (dysfunctional) shall not pass any such order against the members of the bench (four-judge SC bench) or the judges of the Supreme Court,” Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who heads the bench, said in the order.

“If any such order is passed by them (PCO judges), the same shall have no legal or binding effect upon this court as well as any other functionaries of the country and shall be deemed to be an order which is not in existence at all,” the order said.

The seven non-functional judges who have been stopped from issuing restraining orders against the SC judges are: Justice Sayed Zahid Hussain of the Supreme Court, justices Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi, Hasnat Ahmed Khan, Syed Hamid Ali Shah and Syed Sajjad Hussain Shah of the Lahore High Court, Justice Yasmeen Abbasey of the Sindh High Court and Justice Jahanzeb Rahim of the Peshawar High Court.

They are among a number of judges facing contempt charges for taking oath under the Provisional Constitution Order in defiance of a restraining order issued by a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Nov 3, 2007.

The Friday’s restraining order does not apply to Supreme Court’s former chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and LHC’s former chief justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry because they have already retired though are facing the contempt charges.

The Supreme Court issued the order when a note put up by its registrar stated that Justice Jahanzeb Rahim had issued a restraining order, but it was set aside by a three-member PHC bench on Friday.

“It seems that the persons whose cases are pending before the four-member bench of this court, instead of obeying the orders, have started making attempts to undermine the authority of the judges of this court, particularly the members of the bench and have issued notices to all of them to appear, as has been done by Justice Jahanzeb Rahim,” the order said.

The chief justice said: “Although the order passed by him (Justice Jahanzeb) has been set aside by the PHC on the judicial side, but in order to preserve and protect the dignity and respect of the judges of the bench seized with the matter as well as other judges of this court, and in order to ensure that system of administration of justice and honour of this institution, including high courts and district courts is preserved, we are constrained to pass the order.”

Earlier, Dr Abdul Basit, the counsel for the two dysfunctional judges, requested the court to stop the process of framing charges against dysfunctional judges till a detailed reasoning issued by the four-member bench hearing the contempt charges.

The court wanted to pass a judgment after Dr Basit’s arguments, but decided to adjourn the hearing till Monday after Advocates S.M. Zafar and Ibrahim Satti also requested to be heard because similar intra-court appeals have also been filed in the court.