LAHORE
The Lahore High Court Wednesday exempted Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif from appearing before the court in a case of non-payment of land price acquired for Nazaria Pakistan Trust (NPT).
Justice Ibad-ur-Rehman Lodhi ordered Punjab chief secretary to appear before the court on Thursday (today) and said if he failed to satisfy the court on the matter, the court would again summon the CM.
The court had summoned the CM being chairman of the NPT. The Punjab government had challenged the order of the court. The counsel of the Punjab government submitted that the CM under Article 248 of the Constitution had immunity from appearing before the court. He said besides legal and constitutional immunity, there was no moral reason to summon the CM. He requested the court to withdraw the order for the chief minister to personally appear in the court. The court had summoned the CM on a petition moved on behalf of Institute of Islamic Culture.
The petitioner’s counsel had submitted that in 2009, the petitioner’s land of two kanals and 10 Marlas was allotted to NPT. He said NPT had to pay the price for the acquired land, but it was not done so far. He said Shahbaz Sharif being chairman of NPT was responsible for non-payment of the price. He requested the court to issue directives to the NPT chairman for making payment to the petitioner. Additional secretary revenue appearing before the court on last hearing said the land was acquired on the directives of the member board of revenue and chairman NPT was not responsible.
The judge was not satisfied with the reply and had summoned the chairman and member board of revenue.