LAHORE - The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday accepted an unconditional apology of Chief Secretary Punjab Jawwad Rafique and withdrew show cause notice issued to him in a contempt matter. LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan heard the petition filed by Tanveer Abdullah challenging a notification by the Punjab government about conferring the magisterial powers of Special Magistrates (First Class) to executive field officers - Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners and others across the Punjab and contempt plea over violation of court restraining order in the case. During the proceedings, the Chief Justice remarked that it was a serious matter and questioned the violation of the court restraining orders by some field officers. However, the Chief Secretary assured that such a mistake would not be repeated in future and requested for unconditional apology. At this, the court accepted the unconditional apology and withdrew the show cause notice issued to him earlier. The court directed Additional Chief Secretary, and two other secretaries for filing their reply to the notices while adjourning further hearing of the case. It is pertinent to mention here that the court had issued notices to the Chief Secretary and others over violation of court restraining orders by some field officers, who punished people under price control.