Sacked Supreme Court Official Claims Double Jeopardy in Explosive Allegations

Sacked Supreme Court Official Claims Double Jeopardy in Explosive Allegations

ISLAMABAD: The former Additional Registrar Judicial Nazar Abbas, whom the Supreme Court recently dismissed over an alleged grave lapse, has said that he’s facing two jeopardy charges, The News reported.

The copy of the Intra Court Appeal (ICA), which challenges an order to show cause sent to him for breach of court in a matter involving the bench’s powers, surfaced Saturday.

He argued that, on the other side, he was issued an order of show cause regarding the not fixing CPLA Nos 836-K through 887-K of 2020 in front of the special bench by the order passed in the Regular Bench on January 16 2025. On the other hand, the press announcement from the Supreme Court whereby he had been appointed OSD said that the cases were not adequately resolved by him before the Regular Bench and were supposed to be corrected by the Constitutional Bench.

“So, I am facing double jeopardy,” the judge claimed.

He also argued that when the order of January 13, 2025, was sent to the Webmaster, it reflected January 27, 2025, as the date for the next hearing, but this was later changed. The Webmaster also sent another order indicating the hearing date was January 16, 2025.

He explained that on January 16 the petitions captioned came up for hearing, but because one of the judges on the bench wrote the judgment, he removed himself from the case.

“Consequently, the bench fixed the matter for January 20, 2025, by stating that the matter to be part[ly] heard for the first time, and also provided the composition of the bench before whom the matter should be fixed for hearing on January 20, 2025,” the additional Registrar argued.

He further stated that the bench of Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Ayesha A Malik, and Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi handed him a show cause order to not fix the case and also initiated legal proceedings for contempt against him, which are currently pending.

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Then, he stated that an office decision dated January 21, 2025, issued on the instruction of the Registrar at the Apex Court, appointed him an OSC immediately and directed him to report to the office of the Registrar until the next decision.

He requested the apex court to grant his appeal, overturn the registry order, and declare the show cause notice dated January 21 and the contempt proceedings commenced against him null and void.

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He also requested that the decision of January 21, 2025, issued by the Registrar be declared to not have legal jurisdiction and, therefore, null before the justice system.

He also requested that, pending this appeal process, the hearing of the original criminal complaint of 2025 be stopped and the transcript in the court contempt proceedings remanded to make a fair ruling on the case. On January 21, the Supreme Court removed the Additional Registrar (Judicial) Nazar Abbas on account of a serious error, and the Registrar was ordered to investigate the issue.