ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Tuesday expressed displeasure with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for producing a list of houses’ allottees with a message of ‘confidential’ in a case pertaining to the interim bail of former housing minister Akram Khan Durrani.
Chief Justice Athar Minallah expressed annoyance with with NAB prosecution team and observed that whether the bureau wanted to blackmail the court.
He questioned that when and under what law the house was allotted to IHC’s Justice Aamer Farooq to this, NAB IO said that this allotment was made on merit. Justice Minallah asked that then why Justice Farooq’s name was included in this list.
The chief justice further asked that when an allotment was issued on his name at this the NAB official answered that it was given in April 2019.
The chief justice remarked that whether this matter should be sent to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). Why these names were included in the list and it was declared as confidential, he questioned.
Addressing the NAB officials, the bench remarked that did they think the court would hide this list. Whether the situation had reached to this extent, he said. The bench asked the NAB to provide the minutes of the housing ministry’s meeting dated August 2014.
What was illegal if a deputy commissioner was allotted a house, he asked the NAB. The bench asked whether the petitioner was part of this meeting.
Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb observed that whether the NAB would arrest IHC’s registrar who was part of the said meeting.
The NAB IO answered in no; at this Justice Aurangzeb said that then it would be wrong, the NAB should arrest the registrar and federal secretary as well.
Justice Minallah remarked that if this list was produced with the approval of the NAB chairman. What law had been violated in this case, he questioned, adding that should the court summon NAB chairman to seek answers.
Additional Prosecutor General NAB Sardar Muzafar Abbasi adopted the stance that NAB prosecutor Jahanzeb Bharwana would give arguments on this matter but he was currently busy in the Supreme Court.
The chief justice observed that the court would make this list public, adding that no judge of this court could be blackmailed.
The chief justice asked the NAB IO that why the name of IHC judge was added in the list when the bureau knew that it was a legal allotment and why the list was declared as confidential.
Justice Athar Minallah observed that they would present themselves for accountability first. The court asked the bureau to the public the allotment list.
The chief justice asked that who had given the final approval of this list to this NAB IO said that the minister of the relevant ministry had approved this. Many things were in knowledge of this court, he observed and asked the NAB to tell what was a crime in it, the court observed.
Chief justice remarked that today the government was taking thousands of decisions, may be some of them would prove wrong later.
If it was so then whether the NAB would start making cases against them, he asked. If there was corruption, the NAB should lodge the case, Justice Minallah said, adding that now the bureau had to tell that whether the judges were entitled to houses allotments or not.
The NAB IO said that the judges were entitled to houses to this the chief justice remarked that then what was a crime in this case.
The court asked the NAB to tell the bench on the next hearing that whether chairman NAB had approved this list.
After this, the court adjourned the hearing of the case while extending the interim bail of Durrani till April 8.
