News
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
SC accepts Arsalan’s review petition* Court rejects objection of Malik Raiz’s lawyer over early fixation of CJP’s son’s petition
* Orders AGP, Malik Riaz and other respondents to submit reply on 24th
By Hasnaat Malik
ISLAMABAD: Despite the serious objections raised by Malik Riaz’s counsel over urgency in the fixation of chief justice of Pakistan’s son’s review petition, the Supreme Court has accepted Dr Arsalan Iftikhar’s plea against the constitution of a National Accountability Bureau team, which is probing the matter regarding an alleged business deal between him and Malik Riaz, attempting to influence the judicial process.
The court also ordered Attorney General Irfan Qadir, Malik Riaz and other respondents to submit concise statements on review petition by July 24. A two-member bench, headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, observed that it is for the court to determine cases, and not the counsels.
The court on June 14 had passed an order, stating, “It is our expectation that attorney general will set the state machinery in motion so that all those who may have committed any illegal acts, including Malik Riaz Hussain, Dr Arsalan, Salman Ali Khan, etc, are brought to book with the full force and rigour of the law.”
During the hearing, Zahid Bukhari, counsel for Malik Riaz, objected to the listing of the case, saying there was no need of urgent fixing of the case on Tuesday, as there were several other review petitions pending before the court. Bukhari said he had not received any notice regarding the review petition, and objected that the court began the case proceedings early so he could not get time for preparation.
The counsel, raising a question over the transparency of SC Registrar Office, said it was astonishing that the court office was fixing the CJP’s son’s review petition urgently, but the real estate tycoon’s application, filed seven days ago, was not listed.
He said that he had submitted an application regarding the matter, but the SC office had not listed it. The court assured him that everyone was equal before it and it would provide equal treatment to everyone.
Meanwhile, Sardar Ishaq, counsel for Dr Arsalan Iftikhar, contended that Attorney General Irfan Qadir “appears to be proceeding on erroneous construction of the SC order”. He said the AGP was purported to have written a letter to the NAB chairman to investigate the matter and submit a fortnight report to him.
He argued that under the NAB Ordinance, the bureau has absolutely no jurisdiction to conduct any kind of inquiry into the affairs of private individuals. Justice Jawwad said NAB does not fall in the definition of state machinery, as it is an independent body, whose job is to check corruption in state institutions.
Sardar Ishaq informed the bench that on June 25, he wrote a letter to the NAB chairman and sent its copy to the AGP. But neither the chairman nor the AGP had responded so far. Deputy Attorney General Shafi Chandio told the court he was not aware and in possession of the said letter.
The petitioner’s counsel also stated that on behalf of Dr Arsalan, he wrote another letter to the NAB chairman on July 10, but so far he had not responded.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk