ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court will hear the government’s application seeking more time in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) review case on October 11.
Earlier, the apex court constituted a 17-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to hear the government’s review appeal against the court’s judgment on the NRO along with a suo motu case on its implementation on October 13.
On Saturday, the government filed an application through advocate-on-record Raja Abdul Ghafoor, seeking more time in the review petition to engage another counsel in place of Barrister Kamal Azfar, who has now been appointed as the adviser of the prime minister.
Allowing the move, the Supreme Court chief justice ordered to fix the application’s hearing on Monday.
Highlighting the departure of one of its key lawyers, the government said: “The application be put up in the court on October 11. Notice to the caveator, if any, be issued. In the meanwhile, Raja Abdul Ghafoor, the advocate-on-record, is directed to produce a copy of the notification as adviser to the prime minister of Barrister Kamal Azfar … at the time of hearing of the application.”, says a press release issued by the apex court.
The apex court further elaborated that cases relating to the NRO have been fixed before the larger bench on October 13 on the request of the attorney-general.
In his earlier application, Barrister Kamal Azfar had also asked the court to defer the hearing between September 22 and October 10, which was allowed by the chief justice, the apex court said.
This is the third time that the government has sought more time to appoint another counsel on behalf of the federation, it said. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has already stated in an earlier hearing that the government has been stressing upon the government to implement the NRO verdict in letter and spirit for over a year now.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 10th, 2010.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ