By IANS
Islamabad : Pakistan's Supreme Court Monday slammed the government for making "scandalous" claims against suspended chief justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry and imposed a Rs.100,000 ($1,660) penalty.
The fine was for filing "scandalous and vexatious" applications "aimed to damage judges including justice Chaudhry", held the full-court that is hearing Chaudhry's petition.
"What message will you convey to the world about the president, about the head of state, because you have maligned him… you have done all this in his name, he may not be knowing what you are filing," said Justice Khalilur Rahman Ramday, who is presiding over the 13-member bench.
The penalty money, he announced, would go to flood victims in Balochistan province, the Dawn newspaper reported.
Chaudhry's suspension by Musharraf on March 9 on the ground that he misused his office to promote his son, Arsalan Iftikhar, has triggered a nationwide agitation.
Besides attracting criticism at home and abroad, the government also appears to have added to its complications while fighting Chaudhry in the court by filing a clutch of counter-affidavits.
Media reports have said that these affidavits would land top government officials in trouble in that they would have admitted violating an oath of secrecy, and succumbing to Chaudhry's alleged pressures on them to accommodate his son.
Taking a dim view of the government's counter-affidavits, Ramday suspended the licence of a legal official who submitted to the court documents to justify Chaudhry's suspension. He asserted that the documents maligned the judiciary and even the president, reports said.
The court also reacted to a complaint from Chaudhry's lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan, who showed the court copies of the documents, saying that several were unsigned or incorrectly dated.
Security officials were barred from attending court proceedings and the court ordered that its premises be checked for bugging devices. This move was in response to Ahsan's repeated complaints that intelligence officers were "swarming" the court and spying on judges.
The apex court has given the Intelligence Bureau a week to check the court and judges' homes.
The bench has been hearing Chaudhry's petition since May 15 and completed hearing Ahsan's arguments. It will now hear arguments of government counsel Malik Qayyum.
The court had last week clearly indicated that it would not take cognisance of the government's counter-affidavits filed, among others, by Federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and Balochistan Governor Jam Yusaf.
They had made detailed allegations about the "pressures" allegedly mounted by Chaudhry to secure a favourable posting for his son. The two said they "succumbed" to the "pressures" as they could not afford to displease Chaudhry.