LHC hears cases against Sharif brothers

LAHORE:

Two cases against Sharif brothers were heard at Lahore High Court last week with a bench ordering the chief minister to appear before the court and another bench paying no attention to a request seeking Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to be summoned.

Both the cases were taken up on May 8. The attention of the media remained focused on the cases with scant regard being paid to others being heard on the same day. The case against the prime minister was taken up by a five-member bench on a petition filed by Barrister Javed Iqbal in 1992. He accused the prime minister of laundering public money abroad. Iqbal asked the court to look into the matter and recover the money misappropriated by Sharif. He also requested the court to bar the prime minister from contesting elections. Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan, who was heading the bench, directed the petitioner to refine his arguments. Iqbal said he would establish his accusations if the court summoned the prime minister. The court did not pay any attention to the request. Iqbal asked the court for more time to fine-tune his arguments. The court said the matter could take another 20 years to be resolved if the petitioner conducted himself in such a manner. The court adjourned the hearing for one week and fixed the proceedings for May 15 following the conclusion of arguments.

Justice Ibadur Rehman Lodhi on the other hand ordered the chief minister to appear before the court on a petition regarding nonpayment of dues.

The court had summoned Sharif in his capacity as the Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust chairman. The order was issued on a petition by the Institute of Islamic Culture. The IIC had filed the plea in 2009. The petitioner said Sharif had not paid for the 2.5 kanals land procured for the trust. The revenue additional secretary informed the court said that the land had been acquired by the board. He was unable to satisfy the court. The court summoned the chief minister and Board of Revenue Member Ikhlaq Tarar to appear before the court on May 14.

Punjab Coop Societies secy

The LHC stopped the Punjab Cooperative Societies secretary from performing official functions and issued him a contempt of court notice on a petition seeking instructions for him to explain his decisions in a Model Town Cooperative Housing Society property dispute. Justice Irfan directed Babar Hayat Tarar to reply to the notice by May 18.

Tarar had told the court that it could not interfere in his work and he was not bound to obey its orders. Justice Irfan dismissed his statement and directed him to desist from performing official functions.

The court requested that a ‘responsible’ official appear  attend the next hearing.

The court was hearing a petition which questioned mutation of three plots in Block J of the society that belonged to the petitioners’ deceased father.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2015.