Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani said on Wednesday while giving his remarks in the contempt of court case that the parliament cannot change the constitution with simple majority.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said that the parliamentarian who is involved in the contempt of the court case will face a reference under article 63-C1.

A five-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and including Justice Shakirullah Jan, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Jawad S Khawaja and Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jilani, was hearing 27 identical petitions challenging the Contempt of Court Act, 2012.

Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani said that the parliament is respectable but it cannot change the constitution.

Abdul Shakoor Paracha said the Constitution had left the matter of procedure involving contempt of court proceedings on the judiciary, adding that, his arguments would be based on the existing law.

He said that there was no definition of the court given in article 204.

Chief Justice Iftikhar said the constitution did not say that those holding public offices would be immune to prosecution in case they commit contempt of court. SAMAA