Law:

Section:

(a) Constitution of Pakistan (1972),Art. 206-Contempt of superior Courts-Offending article humorously and facetiously, seek­ing to describe a dispute arisen between a Judge and a high Executive officer regarding allotment of a house-Contemners on receipt of notice tendering apology-High Court, however, holding allegations to be serious and such as if true, would disentitle Judge from holding, his office, and deciding to record evidence in public interest-Some allowance, held, had to be made for literary licence-Allegations, he is further, not such as to reflect on suitability of Judge to hold office and High Court's approach to contents of article wholly erroneous. The apology was tendered by the contemners at the first hear­ing of the case. In the order made on that day by the Full Bench of the High Court the apology was described an "unconditional written apology expressing profound and sincere regrets", and praying that the contemners "should be forgiven" The Judges appreciated this gesture, but they took the view that the allega­tions made against the Chief Justice of the Court being serious, it would be in the public interest to proceed to record evidence in the case, for if the allegations were true, the Chief Justice would not be entitled to hold his high office any longer. Held: This was a wholly erroneous approach to the contents of the offending article. In the first place, the author of the article was making an attempt at being humorous and facetious, and therefore, some allowance had to be made for literary licence. In the second place, the allegations, even taken at their face value, were not such as could be said to reflect on the suitability of the Chief Justice to hold Hs high office. After all, the article only sought to describe a dispute, which had arisen between the Chief Justice and the Chief Secretary of the Province regarding the allotment of a house a dispute which could hardly disqualify either of the contestants from occupying their respective offices. It is a matter of common knowledge that disputes of this nature do arise with regard to the allocation of official residences, especially where there is a shortage of such…

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