Defamation case: Maintainability of Rs1b suit reserved

Judge will announce decision of Bakht Baidar’s suit against Imran Khan on March 22.

PESHAWAR:

A district and sessions court reserved its verdict on the defamation suit filed by a former provincial minister from the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and will announce on March 22 whether the case is maintainable or not.

Saturday’s proceeding was based on whether the Rs1 billion defamation suit by QWP’s Bakht Baidar Khan is maintainable and saw completion of arguments by counsels of the petitioner and the defendant which focused on Article 7, Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908.

The PTI chief’s counsel Amir Javed filed an application and informed the court that the plaintiff was removed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak but the latter was not made a respondent in the suit. Javed argued that as the man who actually removed the former minister from the government is not mentioned in the case, the suit is not maintainable at the moment and should be rejected.

Qazi Muhammad Anwer, another counsel of Imran Khan, said the PTI did what they had promised voters during the general elections campaign; the former minister was warned several times but he did not mend his ways.

The QWP leader’s counsel Babar Khan Yousafzai said the removal of his client on allegations of corruption gave him a bad name as it was projected in the social media and newspapers which defamed his reputation.

District and sessions judge Shaiber Khan, after hearing the arguments from both sides, reserved his decision on whether the case is maintainable and will announce the verdict on March 22.

On February 16, Imran submitted documentary proof of corruption against Bakht, a copy of which was sought by the latter which the court ordered would be done after submission of an application. The court had fixed February 22 for arguments on whether the case is maintainable but the plaintiff’s counsel was not ready and thus the case was adjourned.

The PTI chief had alleged that Bakht had ordered unauthorised hiring of government employees in schools and made other “illegal” appointments which burdened the national exchequer.

Bakht was the minister for labour in the PTI-led coalition government and was removed on November 13, along with minister for forests Ibrar Hussain Tanoli on charges of corruption. Later Bakht had sent a legal notice to Imran asking him to render an apology for defaming his reputation.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2014.