SC rejects Elahi’s plea for removal of remarks

Ag agencies

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court rejected on Thursday Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi’s appeal seeking removal of the court remarks about him in the Bahria Town forest land case.

Local media reported that Chief Justice Saqib Nisar said Elahi, the speaker of the Punjab Assembly, was taking a risk. “We pronounced the verdict keeping in view the truth,” he said, adding that he will have to endure the results.

Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan said Elahi didn’t have the authority to demarcate forest land during his tenure as the province’s chief minster. He said 200 kanals of land was allocated to the Chaudhry family.

Chief Justice Nisar asked whether the land developer allotted land to Chaudhry Shujaat’s sons. To this, the petitioner’s lawyer said it hadn’t given any land to the Chaudhry family. They paid for the land, he contended.

He said the court had heard a civil case, not a criminal one. “We did not send the case to NAB,” he said, adding that NAB cleared Elahi, so the court has no issue. He said NAB will proceed with the case on merit.

The court had on May 4, 2018 declared that the total area of land acquired by the real estate company in Takht Pari, Rawalpindi was 2,210 acres and not 1,741 acres as claimed.