Pre-arrest bail of Sindh environment minister extended

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday extended pre-arrest protective bail to a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and provincial minister as he feared his arrest by the National Accountability Bureau, which has initiated an inquiry against him pertaining to corruption and accumulation of wealth beyond known sources of income.

Sindh Environment Minister Taimur Talpur had approached the SHC to obtain protective pre-arrest bail in the NAB inquiry against him. A NAB prosecutor submitted that the inquiry against the petitioner was in its final stages.

The SHC directed the NAB investigation officer to complete the inquiry and submit a progress report in two months. Meanwhile, the court extended the interim pre-arrest bail to the petitioner till September 17.

Petition against PPP candidate

The SHC also dismissed a petition against the acceptance of nomination paper of the PPP candidate who is contesting the by-election for NA-205 Ghotki.

Petitioner Sharbati Khan had challenged the acceptance of nomination paper of Mohammad Bux Khan by the returning officer. He submitted that earlier in 2018 when the respondent wanted to contest a provincial assembly seat in the general elections, his nomination form was dismissed by the returning officer because of misdeclaration with regard to his assets and such order was maintained in successive appeals till the Supreme Court.

He submitted that the consequence of omission or false declaration on oath was disqualification; therefore, the respondent should be disqualified from contesting the election.

A counsel for the respondent submitted that the petition was not maintainable and no illegal act was committed by the respondent. The SHC, after hearing the arguments of both the sides, observed that the returning officer and the election tribunal had not committed any illegality by rejecting the objection of the petitioner. The court dismissed the petition stating that it was devoid of merit.