A bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain had taken up the matter of the sacking of Pakistan Steel Mills chairman Moeen Aftab Sheikh without serving a show-cause notice.
The court issued the contempt notice on Thursday on an application of Advocate Dr Aslam Khaki who said that former director general of the Federal Investigation Agency Tariq Khosa had been transferred to defeat a transparent inquiry into steel mills' corruption case.
'When influential political persons failed to succeed in influencing the inquiry by Mr Khosa, he was transferred against the rules and law in a mala fide way,' the application said, adding the authorities had hindered administration of justice which amounted to contempt of court.
It said that being a man of integrity Mr Khosa was investigating important cases, including the Bank of Punjab scam, without succumbing to any pressures. Mr Khosa, the application said, had not been promoted, but rather removed and transferred to the narcotics division in the same BP-22 grade.
Looking into the record, the court found that a joint investigation team had been set up by Interior Minister Rehman Malik after transferring Mr Khosa to the narcotics division as secretary.
Mr Malik had appointed the joint investigation team comprising senior officials of FIA, interior ministry and the ministry of industries after the apex court at the last hearing had expressed its dissatisfaction over the report of the inquiry committee.
'New things always surfaced whenever the court holds proceedings,' the court remarked. It said the executive had nothing to do with judicial proceedings.
The court also cancelled the notification about constitution of the joint investigation team and directed the investigating officer to continue probe into the steel mills' losses with an observation that Mr Khosa should be reverted to his old post.
The court was of the view that Mr Khosa was deliberately removed because he was producing results in different corruption cases pending before the court.
The court was also not happy with acting Attorney General Shah Khawar and rejected his request to grant a day's time. Mr Khawar approached Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to convey the court's concerns over the joint commission.
After conveying regards and 'Salaam' of the prime minister to the chief justice, Mr Khawar said the government was ready to appoint any officer the court recommended and also said that there was a possibility of appointing Mr Khosa as interior secretary.
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