LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has recommended removal of Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Yasmin Abbasi from the post through the Supreme Judicial Council for audaciously defying orders of the constitutional court.

`The ombudsperson kept defying court orders and taking shelter behind a sub-constitutional legislation,` says a detailed judgment authored by senior puisne judge Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah in acontempt of court petition against Ms Abbasi.

The judge said that facts of the case showed that the federal ombudsperson had repeatedly exhibited disrespect and defiance to orders of the constitutional court with impunity.

The verdict says the ombudsperson stubbornly used Section 18 of the Federal Ombudsman Institutional Reforms Act, 2013, to show disobedience to the court orders.

The Section 18 reads: `No court or authority shall have jurisdiction to entertain a matter which falls within the jurisdiction of an Ombudsman, nor any court or authority shallassume jurisdiction in respect of any matter pending with or decided by an Ombudsman.

`The section is a sub-constitutional legislation and cannot control or regulate powers of a constitutional court under the Constitution, Justice Shah held.

`The stance of the federal ombudsperson on Section 18 is hopelessly misconceived,` the judge maintains.

`The insubordinate and recalcitrant conduct of the federal ombudsman is unbecoming and offends the honour and prestige of the constitutional court. Her disobedient conduct, prima facie, attracts Section 5 of the Act, 2013, which provides forremoval of the ombudsman,` the judgment says.

Section 5 of the Act reads: `An ombudsman may be removed from office through the Supreme Judicial Council on the grounds of being incapable of properly performing duties of his ofhce by reason of physical or mental incapacity or found to have been guilty of misconduct.

The judge directs the Registrar`s Office to place a copy of the judgment before the Supreme Judicial Council, so that it may be treated as a reference against the federal ombudsperson for her removal in terms of Section 5 of the Act, 2013.