*LAHORE: Yet another larger bench formed to hear and decide petitionsseeking initiation of contempt of court proceedings against former premierNawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz was dissolved after a judgerecused himself from hearing the case.*

Justice Shahid Mobeen declined to proceed with the matter, dissolving thethree-judge bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC).

Last week, LHC Chief Justice Yawar Ali formed a new full bench, headed byJustice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi and comprising Justice Shahid Mobeen andJustice Aatir Mehmood, after Justice Shahid Bilal Hasan was transferred tothe Multan bench.

The three-judge bench was formed to hear the petitions involvinganti-judiciary speeches of the PML-N supreme leader and his daughter.

Earlier, the court hadissued a notice to Pakistan Electronic MediaRegulatory Authority (Pemra) to submit comments, explaining the measures ithas taken to stop the airing of anti-judiciary speeches by the duo.

The petitioners submitted that Sharif and his daughter had been severelycriticizing the judiciary in their public speeches.

They said the regulatory body had so far failed to take any action to stopthe airing of the speeches despite high court orders in this regard.

The petitioners pleaded with the court to initiate contempt of courtproceedings against Sharif and his daughter and restrain them frommaligning the judiciary.