SC’s help sought to reclaim ex-CJP’s bulletproof car

Law ministry says Chaudhry now a politician but still using vehicle

ISLAMABAD: The law ministry has urged the attorney general of Pakistan to request the top court to help reclaim the bulletproof car provided to the former chief justice of the country.

The ministry has written to the AGP’s office, saying ex-CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry had now turned a politician after forming the Pakistan Justice Democratic Critic Party.



“But he is still using the official bulletproof car of the Cabinet Division and being issued petrol from the Law and Justice Division under the judgment order of the Islamabad High Court,” reads the letter, adding that the government had filed a case but the court had yet to decide it.

The ministry said Chaudhry’s use of the vehicle and petrol had incited the politicians as well as the people to criticise the government, requesting the AGP to explore the possibility of seeking relief from the Supreme Court.

The month-wise breakdown of the petrol used in the official car since January 2014 shows that 6,818.80 litres worth Rs638,419 have been provided to the former CJP. With Rs3,375,029 spent on repairs, the grand total comes to Rs4,013,448.

Meanwhile, the top court has sought legal assistance from the AGP’s office to ascertain whether or not the intra-court appeal related to the matter could be heard by itself.

Hearing the plea of Advocate Riaz Hanif Rahi, a three-judge bench headed by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar observed that the IHC had no jurisdiction to direct the federal government to provide a bulletproof car to the former CJP.

Rahi had said that hearing the plea of three lawyers on January 15, 2014, the high court had directed the Centre to provide the vehicle to Chaudhry, adding that the IHC had dismissed his petition for not providing him a bulletproof car on the grounds that he had no locus standi (standing).



He contended that if the high court could entertain the petition of three lawyers in favour of the ex-CJP, then it could accept his plea as well.

The bench also asked Deputy Attorney General Sohail Mahmood whether or not they could hear the case.

The bench told the law ministry to inform them about the status of the federal government’s appeal pending in the IHC for the past two years, and adjourned the hearing until Wednesday (today).

A senior official told The Express Tribune that the federal government would recommend the top court to hear the case itself.

Earlier, the Cabinet Division had issued a notification that said the vehicle was being provided to the former CJP for three months.

However, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the IHC held that the “time-specific clause is unfeasible, unrealistic and is discriminatory”. The judge also directed the law ministry to bear the expenses of the car’s maintenance.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2016.