Government ready to retire CJP Chaudhry, vacate his residence.

* Sacked CJP’s spokesman says such action would be ‘unconstitutional’

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to retire sacked chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and vacate his official residence, sources in the Law Ministry said on Friday.

They said the Public Works Department would issue a notice to Chaudhry next week asking him to vacate his official residence within a fortnight.

While referring to repeated statements by Law Minister Farooq H Naik that there cannot be two chief justices in the country and Chaudhry would have to take a fresh oath to resume office, a senior official at the ministry said the restoration of the sacked chief justice seemed difficult, as he has refused to take a fresh oath.

Unconstitutional: “Any kind of a notice to vacate the residence will be illegal and unconstitutional,” Chaudhry’s spokesman Athar Minallah said, adding such an act would spark nationwide reaction. The spokesman said the sacked chief justice would not vacate his residence, and no one could ask for it, as he was still “the constitutional chief justice of Pakistan”.

He said the former chief justice was still in high spirits because he had taken a clear stand for the supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law.

Minallah said Chaudhry had always rejected offers made to him while opting not to compromise on his stand.

link: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C13%5Cstory_13-9-2008_pg7_43