News
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
SC rejects registrar’s objections to Malik Riaz’s petition* Court says review petition to be heard on merit
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the objections raised by the court’s Registrar Office on the review petition of Malik Riaz against the one-man commission of Shaoib Suddle.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain heard Malik Riaz’s appeal against the registrar’s objections to the review petition.
During the proceeding, Zahid Bukhari, counsel for Malik Riaz, argued that the registrar’s office had no right to return the appeal with objections. The court, rejecting the objections, said the review petition would be heard on merit. The court also directed the office concerned to assign a number to the review petition and adjourned the case until October2.
Malik Riaz had filed a review petition on September 11 challenging a Supreme Court judgement, alleging that the judgement amounted to giving preferential treatment to Dr Arsalan Iftikhar.
In its judgement on August 30, the court had constituted a one-man commission comprising Dr Shoaib Suddle to investigate a Rs 342 million business deal between Arsalan and Malik Riaz. According to the review petition, the judgement had been passed without lawful authority and jurisdiction as the order did not say under what law the one-man commission was constituted.
The petitioner had argued that there were serious apprehensions and doubts about the independence of Suddle as he had actively participated in the wedding ceremony of Arsalan, while the chief justice and his family had attended the marriage ceremony of Suddle’s son in December 2011. Bukhari said Suddle’s relationship with Arsalan and his family would be a hurdle in conducting a fair inquiry.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk