LHC CJ entrusts Chaudhrys’ pleas to another bench

LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan has entrusted hearing of petitions by PML-Q leaders Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervez Elahi against the NAB to another two-judge bench as one of the members of a bench previously hearing the petitions recused himself from the case.

A bench comprising Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem and Justice Farooq Haider, already allocated to hear NAB-related cases, last week heard the petitions by the Chaudhry brothers. However, Lahore High Court Bar Association President Tahir Nasarullah Warraich, on behalf of the petitioners, had objected to the presence of Justice Haider on the bench, saying the judge had represented the Chaudhry brothers in a number of cases before his elevation. He said it would not be appropriate for the judge to be part of the bench hearing the instant petitions. Later, the judge recused himself from the case and the bench referred the petitions to the chief justice for their fixation before any other bench. Therefore, Chief Justice Khan marked the petitions for hearing to a bench comprising Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi and Justice Asjad Javed Ghural. The bench will take up the petitions on Tuesday (today).

The petitions by the Chaudhry brothers said in the year 2000, the then chairman of the respondent bureau authorized investigation against them on the allegations of misuse of authority, assets beyond means and wilful default under the National Accountability Ordinance 1999. They said all the three investigations were recommended for closure by the investigating officers and the regional board of the NAB during 2017 and 2018 when the government of their political arch rivals was in place. However, they said, the chairman of the NAB approved in 2019 reinvestigation and bifurcation of the inquiries against them after an investigation spreading over a period of 19 years since authorization of investigation in the year 2000.

The petitioners contented that the establishment of the NAB, its credibility, partiality and use for political engineering has been a matter of heated debate not only by all political parties but also by human rights organizations and intelligentsia both at the national and international level. They asked the court to set aside the authorization of the inquiries and the order for their bifurcation passed by the NAB chairman for being unlawful.