ISLAMABAD: Acting Chief Justice of Pakistan, Rana Bhagwandas, constituted a full Bench on Tuesday to hear the constitutional petition by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary challenging the filing of the reference against him.

Mr. Bhagwandas was acting on Monday's order by the Supreme Court for a full court to hear the petition. The five-judge Bench also stayed the hearing of the reference against Mr. Chaudhary in the Supreme Judicial Council, an oversight panel of the judiciary, until the Supreme Court decides his petition.

The full court, comprising 14 judges of the Supreme Court, will hear the petition daily from May 14. The full Bench excludes the Chief Justice, three judges who are on the panel of the Supreme Judicial Council, and one other judge who earlier recused himself.

In a related but separate development, a Supreme Court Bench headed by Mr. Bhagwandas reserved judgment in a contempt case against officials of the district administration and police, including the Chief Commissioner and the capital's Inspector-General of Police, for manhandling Chief Justice Chaudhary.

The seven officials charged with contempt gave an unconditional apology to the court. The case against the policemen was filed after the court took suo motu notice of the manhandling incident.

Lawyers, who boycotted courts for two hours every day for the last two months against the "suspension" of the Chief Justice, have ended their protest following the apex court's stay on the proceedings of the Supreme Judicial Council.

Bar associations country-wide had announced a strike on Wednesday to coincide with a scheduled hearing of the Supreme Judicial Council, but have called it off and announced a day of celebration instead. A scheduled visit by Mr. Chaudhary to Karachi to address the Bar Association on May 12 is to go ahead as planned.

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