Bails dismissed

LAHORE

The Lahore High Court on Tuesday dismissed interim bails of former additional collector Amir Atiq and other officials of the Revenue Department allegedly involved in transferring public land worth billions into their names in Kasur district.

Additional prosecutor General Abdul Samad told the court that accused Amir Atiq and other officials of the revenue department got transferred unlawfully the land measuring 1,205 kanal and one marla which is located in Ladhay kay village to their names. It was public land but the officials misused their authority and transferred all that land to their names, he said.

He said this caused a huge loss to the national exchequer. The prosecutor said the accused had earlier been granted interim bails by an anti-corruption court which he pleaded be dismissed.

The counsel of the accused; however, opposed the arguments of the prosecutor saying that these allegations against their clients were baseless. He said they did not grab land and were not involve in any unlawful activity. After hearing both sides, Justice Abdul Sami Khan of the LHC dismissed the bails.

The accused whose bails were dismissed included former additional collector Amir Atiq, revenue officer Arif Ali Qadir, Patwari Pervez and Abdul Jalil and co-accused namely Ibrahim Khalid, Abdul Riaz, M Aslam and Salman Manj.