SC admits Zardari’s plea for hearing after winter break

The Supreme Court on Tuesday accepted the appeal of former president and Co-Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Asif Ali Zardari, against the Registrar Office in a case seeking transfer of National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) references against him from Rawalpindi to Karachi.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi heard the petition regarding transfer of the NAB reference from accountability court No II, Islamabad to the accountability court in Karachi.

During the hearing, Zardari’s counsel Farooq H Naek said that his client had a legal right to file the petition regarding the transfer of references but the Registrar’s Office rejected the application, after which a review application was filed.

Justice Bandial asked the counsel to file a new petition, which would be fixed for hearing. He said that it was a matter of transferring references from one province to another province and not from the Federation.

Naek said that the registrar had no authority to raise objections on the petition as it was filed under the NAB Ordinance. The lawyer added that the court had the power to declare the petition admissible or not.

Justice Shah said that the Supreme Court had ordered for filing of the cases in Islamabad. Naek responded that the NAB Ordinance would apply after the reference was filed and under Section 16AC of the ordinance transfer application could be moved.

He said that application for transfer of case within the province could be moved in the respective high court, and the transfer of the case from one court in a province to another province could be moved in the Supreme Court.

After hearing the arguments, the court removed the Registrar Office’s objections and directed for fixing the case for hearing after the winter break.