Govt tells IHC will pay missing person’s family

Court directs police to submit a report on computer expert's recovery in two weeks

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday disposed of a contempt petition against the interior ministry on assurance of clearing outstanding monthly payment in two months to the family of a missing computer expert.

A single-member bench of IHC comprising IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah presided over the case on Monday.

During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel Umar Gillani told that they only implement decisions on court’s orders.

The chief justice questioned what the court could do except issue orders. The state says that it is unable to find the citizen and the court itself could not go and search the victim, Minallah added.

The bench remarked that it has some limitations and cannot assume some things.

“Anarchy would spread if the confidence on the state was lost”, Minallah remarked.

The court directed Islamabad police to submit a report regarding Sajid Mehmood’s recovery in two weeks and disposed of the application.

F-8 Kuchery case

Meanwhile, IHC sought legal assistance from the law ministry to move the trial of the F-8 Kutcheri attack case to another court.

A single-member bench of IHC led by Chief Justice Athar Minallah presided over the case on Monday. The court stated during the hearing that why should not the cases be moved to another court under unusual circumstances.

Minallah remarked that two judges of the Islamabad anti-terrorism court (ATC) were part of the case inquiry.

He directed to take assistance from the law ministry to move the case to another court as pleaded by the suspects as it was their legal right.

The court sought assistance from the law ministry with directions to present a solution to the issue to make the trial fair.

Justice Kayani on leave

IHC has formed new divisional benches after Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani went on leaves after his driver tested positive for novel coronavirus.

IHC officials informed that Justice Kayani’s driver has contracted the virus after which he has gone under isolation.

As per a notification issued by the IHC registrar, a divisional bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Lubna Saleem Pervez would perform duties on December 8 while on December 9, the chief justice and Justice Fayyaz Ahmed Anjum Jandran would perform duties.

A divisional bench comprising Minallah and Justice Ghulam Azam Qambrani will hear the cases on December 10.

Further, single-member benches comprising Justice Amir Farooq, Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb, Justice Lubna Saleem Pervez, Justice Fayyaz Ahmed Anjum Jundran, and Justice Ghulam Azam Qambrani will hear the cases on the related days too.

IHC officials informed that the hearing of ex-president Asif Ali Zardari's pre-arrest bail plea in the Rs 8 billion dubious transaction case will not be conducted due to Justice Kayani’s leaves. Similarly, the proceeding on appeals of Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, and Captain (R) Safdar may not be conducted too.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2020.