PM Gillani’s Contempt of Court: breakdown of what happens if the Premier is convicted

Now that Prime Minister’s intra-court appeal has been dismissed, one wonders what will happen next. Here’s a breakdown of the future scenarios in light of the legislative system in place.

Prime Minister Gillani will face the seven member bench including Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Monday, February 13^th, and the contempt of court trial will begin.

Here he will be given a chance to explain his actions that invoked the court’s contempt were out of his control due to the circumstances and were not of malicious intent. If the SC is not convinced, the charge will be framed and sentence handed to the Prime minister. However, again, he will have a chance to file an appeal.

In case that is also dismissed, a reference will be sent to the Speaker of the House, who, more out of formality than any discretionary powers, will then have 30 days to examine the reference and inevitably will have to forward it to the Chief Election commissioner. The Chief EC, Hamid Ali Mirza, is already an appointment hotly contested by the opposition parties who claim Mirza is the President’s close aide hence a partial judge in a separate issue of the 20th amendment.

The chief election commissioner will have 90 days to de-notify the Prime Minister from the Parliament, an action if carried out will lose Gillani his MNA-ship as well.

However, the Election Commission does have discretionary powers to question the Supreme Court’s sentence if it is not satisfied. Article 63 of the constitution of Pakistan, which states the conditions of disqualifications for membership from Parliament,   invoked here by the apex court, will most likely be used to frame charges based on clause G (in which conviction is “for the integrity or independence of the judiciary of Pakistan, or which defames or brings into ridicule the judiciary or the Armed Forces of Pakistan”) or clause H (in which conviction is for any offence involving moral turpitude).

Within the given 90-days, the Election Commission can hold a hearing where the Prime Minister will be given a chance to explain himself.

If the Prime Minister is able to convince the EC with the argument that he did not intend or try to defame the apex court judges and had no malicious intent to defy SC orders to write to the Swiss authorities in order to re-open graft cases against his boss, the president of Pakistan, the EC might relent. This will save him from being de-notified as Member of Parliament.

However, keep in mind, either way the Prime Minister, sentenced with contempt of court by the Supreme Court, will meanwhile either be jailed on these charges at Adiala or the PM house, for a duration that could last from a few weeks to 6 months. In some cases, the sentence of contempt of court can also last up to 60 seconds. Which essentially means until the court rises. As soon as the sentence is handed out and the judges leave the chair, the duration of the punishment has been completed. The concept behind Contempt of court in jurisdiction is more philosophical than corporal. some authorities argue, contempt when used by judges represents a form of weakness of the judiciary. Lord Denning, the Lord Chief Justice of England (from 1996-2000), said “the judge who takes contempt as source to establish judicial authority should not be called the judge.”

However, even now after the EC verdict, anyone can file a petition challenging the EC’s decision under Article 184(3).

Another aspect to keep in mind, that after the SC has framed charges, the President of Pakistan has the authority to excuse the PM, as was in the case of Presidential pardon for Rehman Malik (See: http://bit.ly/wuaB5e).

While, this will save the PM from serving a jail sentence, it will still bar him from holding public office in the future due to the constitutional restraints imposed based on contempt of court charges.