House can't undermine freedom of judiciary: CJP

A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is hearing the petitions against new contempt of court law.Other members of the bench are Justice Shakirullah Jan‚ Justice Tasaddaq Jilani‚ Justice Jawad Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif.During the course of proceedings‚ the counsel of the federation prayed that a full court be constituted in view of the importance of the petitions.Rejecting the counsel’s appeal, chief justice said that the bench comprises of senior judges and such benches in the past have delivered judgments on cases of great significance.The bench said that no one can enjoy complete immunity under article 248 of the constitution, adding that immunity can only be provided in official matters.The bench told that 26 petitions were filed against the bill. Almost all the petitions stated that the new bill has attempted to undermine the freedom of judiciary.The counsel of federation requested the bench to grant him a time of two weeks for the preparation of the case as he was assigned this case yesterday.The hearing is still underway at Supreme Court.