By IRNA
Islamabad : The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday banned the entry of the officials of intelligence agencies in the court's premises after a senior defense lawyer of the suspended chief justice informed the court that intelligence agencies are involved in spying on judges.
The ban was announced by Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramdey, who as the head of a 13-member bench of judges, is hearing a petition from the suspended chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
Chaudhry was suspended by President Musharraf in March on the charges of misuse of authority, charges he has denied.
Aitzaz Ahsan, senior counsel of the suspended chief justice, told the court on Monday that intelligence agents are spying on judges to malign them.
The apex court in its order said that no unauthorized persons including the officials of the intelligence agencies of whatever department of the state shall enter in the offices of the Supreme Court and High Courts nor shall they seek any court record from any official of the courts.
The court further directed the registrars of the Supreme Court and High Courts to personally ensure the compliance of the orders of the apex court.
The controversy erupted when Aitzaz Ahsan informed the court about objectionable materials about judges in a document filed by the government lawyers on June 28.
He said that filing of materials is an attempt to malign apex court judges as some documents submitted with the materials include naked abuses for the judges.
However the government lawyer Malik Mohammed Qayyum, withdrew the controversial material and tendered unconditional apology.
The Court dismissed the material as withdrawn and imposed a penalty of one hundred thousand rupees on the government.
Justice Ramday directed the Director General Intelligence Bureau to carry out an inspection of the premises of the Supreme Court and residences of the Judges to ensure that no bugging devices are installed.
The court asked him to complete the exercise in one week and submit a personal affidavit in the court that there are no bugging devices installed in the Supreme Court and at judge's residences.
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