slamabad: Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed intra-court appeals of six judges of high courts facing contempt of court proceedings for having taken oath under a Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) issued on November 3, 2007 by then military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
Around 60 judges of superior courts were issued contempt notices for taking oath under the PCO despite a restraining order that a seven-member Supreme Court bench had issued on the day the PCO was promulgated and Mushrraf sacked the defiant judges, who were restored in 2008.
Most of the PCO judges had apologised to the Supreme Court but six filed appeals against the contempt notices issued by the top court.
A six-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikahr Muhammad Chaudhry, rejecting the appeals Wednesday, decided that the contempt proceedings against the six would be resumed.
In its ruling Wednesday, the bench directed the government to remove the six PCO judges from their positions through required notifications.
The bench ruled that judges who had taken oath under the PCO on November 3, 2007 stood deposed from their positions as the parliament had not ratified Musharraf's November 3, 2007 proclamations through the 18th Amendment passed last year.
The judges affected by the ruling are: justices Sayee Shabbar Raza Rizvi, Hasnat Ahmad Khan, Sayeed Hamid Ali Shah and Sayeed Sajjad Hussain Shah of the Lahore High Court, Justice Yasmeen Abbasey of the Sindh High Court and Justice Jehanzeb Rahim of the Peshawar High Court.
