ISLAMABAD A five-member bench of the Supreme Court hearing cases of PCO judges on Friday reserved its judgement after hard-hitting objections by the counsel of the two judges who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order. The bench was hearing contempt of court cases against Justice (Retd) Abdul Hameed Dogar, former chief justice of Supreme Court, Justice (Retd) Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry, former chief justice of Lahore High Court, and eight sitting judges - Justice Sayed Zahid Hussain of the Supreme Court and Justice Khurshid Anwar Bhinder, Justice Hamid Ali Shah, Justice Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, Justice Hasnat Ahmed Khan, Justice Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi, Justice Yasmin Abbasi and Justice Jahan Zaib Rahim of different high courts. The PCO judges were facing contempt charges for taking oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) in defiance of a restraining order issued by a seven-judge Supreme Court bench on November 3, 2007, moments after the proclamation of emergency by former president Pervez Musharraf. Dr Abdul Basit, counsel for Justice Hasnat Ahmed and Justice Shabbar Rizvi, at the outset urged that his clients had objections on the three judges of the bench, adding; Unless this bench is properly constituted, its decision may not have legal effect. These would be vitiated by absence of transparency. He without elaborating his main objection wanted to plead his case but the judges, especially Justice Muhammad Sair Ali and Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, asked him to first inform the court about his objection, saying otherwise the whole proceeding would be meaningless if the objection remained unaddressed. Dr Basit claimed that according to his knowledge other petitioners had also raised that the three judges, on them he has objection, should not sit in the bench. Justice Sair then inquired from the Register Office have other petitioners objected the bench composition. The office informed no. On this Dr Basit remarked Its the bad luck of our country. Justice Khilji Arif Hussain asked him not to blame the country as overall neither the country nor its people were bad. He also asked him to identify those petitioners, who were not satisfied with the bench composition. The learned counsel instead of revealing the name of other petitioners said, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui and Justice Tariq Pervaiz should not sit in the bench as his clients feel that malice and bias exist in their minds against the petitioners (PCO judges). He said, In the presence of everyone, including media persons, I do not want to divulge details. Justice Khilji said due to media many evils in the society have abolished. Justice Jawwad stated, We are not sacred cows and if anyone, including media, points out flaws, they have every right. We are not transcended and it should be conveyed to the people as well. He said they were like fish in the bowl that cant respond to the outside turbulence. Openness is required and we should not undermine the due process mentioned in Article 10A, he added. Basit said transparency is very essential, adding if the decision of this bench goes against his client, the people would say that it had happened because the judges have grudges against the PCO judges. He further said, People would say as these judges did not like PCO, therefore the decision is given against the petitioners. Justice Sair Ali remarked, It means we should ask petitioners for constituting the benches. Basit said three kinds of judges should not hear PCO judges cases. First who had never taken benefit from Justice Dogar Courts. Second, the judges, who remained steadfast during lawyers movement and campaigned for the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and third who did not term PCO judges bad. Justice Sair Ali said, The concerns you have expressed were not the issue of 'yes and 'no, but it was the matter of respect. Therefore they would ponder upon it and on Monday would give judgement in this respect. Dr Basit also filed his 10 points submission and the list of the judgements regarding his case. Nawaz Kharal, counsel for Justice (Retd) Abdul Hameed Dogar requested the bench to ask the counsels of other petitioners to refrain from using words of Dogar Courts. He said, If the previous courts were Dogar Courts, then some lawyers in the bar rooms say that the present courts are Nawaz Courts.