LAHORE, May 30: An accountability court on Monday acquitted Ghulam Muhammad Murtaza Khar, younger brother of former Punjab governor Ghulam Mustafa Khar, in a reference of wilful default on a bank loan.

Murtaza Khar along with other directors of M/s Yahya Textile Mills Ltd obtained a loan of Rs610.926 million from HBL Multan but did not return the amount.

The accused through his counsel pleaded that the offence of wilful default was not applicable to his case as he was arrested on Nov 11, 1999 while the offence was added in the NAB ordinance in February 2000.

The counsel said the accused had been paying his loan as per terms and conditions settled at the time of re-scheduling of the loan and the bank had no objection to the arrangement.

A NAB prosecutor opposed the acquittal of the accused and said he was a habitual defaulter of bank loans. The prosecutor said the accused availed facility of re-scheduling three times but never paid the loan.

The court, however, acquitted Ghulam Muhammad Murtaza Khar of default. REPLIES SOUGHT: Justice Azmat Saeed of the Lahore High Court on Monday sought replies from ministry of information and Pakistan Television Corporation managing director on a petition challenging discriminatory policy of the state-owned channel with regard to proceedings of national assembly.

Advocate Waqar Ahmad Chaudhry filed the petition and argued that PTV preferred members from treasury bench in coverage of parliament’s proceedings and did not telecast speeches of the opposition leader. He said this act of the PTV was in violation of Article 19-A of the Constitution, which guaranteed the access to information for everyone.

He asked the court that the secretary information and PTV MD be directed to give impartial coverage of parliament session.

During the course of the hearing Justice Saeed remarked, “PTV is being funded by public money and therefore responsible for keeping the public informed about facts.”

After hearing the initial arguments the judge issued notices to the respondents and directed them to file their replies within four weeks.