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Summary Parliamentary record of the debate over contempt bill was presented before the bench.
A five-member bench of Supreme Court, comprising Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Shakirullah Jan, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Jawad S Khawaja and Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jilani resumed the hearing of various identical petitions challenging the Contempt of Court Act 2012 on Thursday.Giving arguments, one of the petitioners lawyer, Sheikh Ahsanuddin, said that the all those parliamentarians who favoured the bill deviated from their oath.He said all the legislation was completed before June 27 since attorney general was given the deadline to submit government’s reply in writing letter to Swiss officials, adding thatthe new law was enacted to protect the new prime minister from disqualification.During today’s proceedings, the parliamentary record of the debate that took place during the passage of contempt bill was also presented before the bench.After hearing the debate,Justice Jawad S Khawaja remarked that parliamentary proceedings are protected under Article 69 of the Constitution and it cannot be challenged in the court, however, the court can review the debate.
