ISLAMABAD: Making it difficult for the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to decide the fate of a bulletproof car currently under the use of former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, his lawyers have filed five miscellaneous petitions with the court in about two weeks.

The Supreme Court on January 27 asked the IHC to decide by the first week of February the federal government’s intra-court appeal (ICA) for reclaiming the car.

The matter was fixed before the IHC on February 4 and was then adjourned till Monday. The IHC bench, comprising Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi and Justice Aamir Farooq, is hearing the matter on a day-to-day basis.

The counsel for the former CJP, on the other hand, filed five civil miscellaneous applications since the matter was referred to the IHC by the apex court.

A civil miscellaneous application (CMA) is filed under section 151 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) to place additional record before the court, amending the petition or any relief related to a pending petition.

According to former deputy attorney general, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, sometimes litigants file CMAs to linger a case. Referring to the filing of the five CMAs in less than a week, Mr Jahangiri said this may also delay the concluding of the case.

Between Jan 27, when IHC was asked to decide govt’s appeal, and second week of Feb, ex-CJP’s lawyers have filed 5 miscellaneous appeals

In the CMAs, the lawyers sought relief for placing some additional information on the court record, constitution of a larger bench, summoning the attorney general for interpretation of the law and comparative statistics of official security provided to dignitaries. In one of the applications, the lawyers offered to surrender the bulletproof vehicle if the federal government gave an undertaking that there was no threat to the life of the former CJP.

But Mr Jahangiri added that instead of filing CMAs, the lawyers should have assisted the bench so the matter could be decided within the given timeframe.

The federal government under the order of a single-member bench of the IHC provided the bulletproof car to Justice Chaudhry after his retirement in December 2013.

In the intra-court appeal, the federal government contended that the order of the single-member bench was arbitrary and not in accordance with the law.

The appeal said in order to justify the possession of the bulletproof car Justice Chaudhry had relied upon those threat alerts which had been issued to him in 2009 when he was the chief justice of Pakistan. But the single-member bench on January 15, 2014, ordered the provision of the bulletproof car to the retired CJP.

The ministry of law and justice recently wrote a letter to the attorney general for taking steps for the retrieval of the car from the ex-CJP, saying after the launch of his political party the use of an official bulletproof car by the former CJP had become a matter of concern for the government. As per the calculation of the law ministry, a total expenditure of Rs4 million had incurred on the Mercedes Benz from January 2014 to Jan 2016, of which Rs3.37 million were spent on the repair work and Rs638,419 on fuel.

A senior government lawyer on the condition of anonymity told Dawn that the counsel from the ex-CJP side did not file such CMAs during the last a couple of years. Filing of CMAs at a time when the IHC is hearing the case on a daily basis showed they wanted to drag the case, he added.

Senior lawyer Ahsanduddin Sheikh, on whose petition the IHC single-member bench provided the bulletproof car to Justice Chaudhry, told Dawn that filing of the CMAs was their legal right. He said he wanted to place crucial record before the court.

Justice Chaudhry is also willing to return the car if the government assures him that there is no risk to his life. Advocate Sheikh also admitted that the disposal of CMAs may take a little more time.

During Tuesday’s proceedings, the IHC division bench dismissed a CMA seeking the constitution of a larger bench and summoning of the attorney general. The court will resume hearing of the bulletproof car case on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2016