LAHORE – A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday issued notice to the Interior Ministry and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman on a petition challenging Rana Zahid Mehmood’s appointment as Punjab NAB director general (DG).
The bench comprising Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar Hussain and Justice Ahmad Farooq Sheikh issued notice to the attorney general , Punjab advocate general, Federal Investigation Agency and the police inspector general (IG) for March 24. The bench also issued notice for the same date on an application seeking to immediately stop Mehmood from functioning.
The petition was filed by Canal Motors reference accused being investigated by the NAB. Petitioning lawyer Muhammad Azhar Siddique said Mehmood’s contractual appointment was in violation of rules and regulations, therefore the Punjab government’s step was unlawful and liable to be declared null and void. The counsel said the respondent was stopped from working as a judge from LHC following the judgment of the Supreme Court that declared all appointments made by Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar unconstitutional on a petition by Sindh High Court Bar Association.
The petitioner contended that the SC had declared contract appointments against law and the constitution and therefore the appointment of the respondent should also be declared unconstitutional. He also alleged that Mehmood was a close relative of Rana Qaiser Nazir , a Canal Motors case accused. He accused that the Punjab NAB DG exercised his influence in the matter and removed the investigating officer Rana Waqas who declared Rana Qaiser and others guilty while holding a merit-based investigation.
He stated that the matter was reported to the NAB chairman and the Punjab IG through various applications but they ignored the matter. He pleaded with the court to declare the impugned appointment unconstitutional and sought directions to hand the Canal Motors scam’s investigation back to Rana Waqas.
Saud Aziz’s bail case transferred to LHC’s Lahore branch: The LHC chief justice (CJ) on Wednesday allowed an application by former Rawalpindi City Police Officer Saud Aziz to transfer his bail matter from the Rawalpindi bench to Lahore’s principal seat. Aziz was involved in the Benazir Nazir Bhutto’s assassination case and had been charged with deliberate negligence in duty on the day of the incident at Liaqat Bagh, Rawalpindi.
The accused had filed an application through senior lawyer Khawaja Sultan and alleged that the federal capital authorities were influencing Rawalpindi bench proceedings, therefore the bail matter be transferred to the principal seat of the LHC. Saud Aziz and a superintendent police Khurram Shahzad were arrested on Dec 22, 2010 after a lower court in Rawalpindi rejected their bail.
