LHC stays move to convert Dar's house into shelter

Issues verdict on petition filed by former finance minister’s wife

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday stayed the PTI led Punjab government’s decision to convert house of former finance minister Ishaq Dar into a shelter home for the poor.

The LHC issued the order on a petition moved by Tabassum Dar, the PML-N leader’s wife.

Dar’s wife had maintained that the Punjab government violated the law and the Constitution by turning the house into a shelter. She said Dar was being victimized as he is a member of the leading opposition party, the PML-N.

She noted that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had stayed auction of the residence and the step was also a violation of the IHC orders.

The LHC single bench comprising Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan on Monday took up the petition and later stayed the government’s move. It also sought a reply from the provincial government within 10 days.

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Earlier, an accountability court had ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to confiscate the sprawling residence of the former finance minister in a posh neighbourhood of Lahore.
The trial court had issued the order after Dar failed to appear before it despite multiple notices.

Ishaq Dar has been absconding the court proceedings since 2017 soon after the country top graft buster –NAB – filed a reference against him for allegedly having more assets than his declared income.

The reference against Dar was one of the four corruption cases filed in the wake of the apex court’s July 2017 Panama Papers verdict.  The other three references were filed against former premier Nawaz Sharif and his family members. Nawaz has already been found guilty in two of these references.

On order of the accountability court, NAB had confiscated Dar’s bank accounts carrying Rs500 million and his house that spreads over four kanals and seven marlas in Gulberg, Lahore.

The house was turned into a shelter house for the poor on February 8. A government official had said at least 50 homeless people could be accommodated in the house that consists of 12 rooms.