ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court has hinted at initiating contempt of court proceedings against officials of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for scandalising the IHC judges and attempting to prejudice the pending proceedings.

An IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb stated this in its order issued during the hearing on March 17 of a petition seeking pre-arrest bail for former minister for housing and works Akram Khan Durrani.

NAB submitted a report in a sealed envelope and stamped as “confidential”.

The IHC written order said: “It has been alleged in the report that the petitioner [Akram Durrani] had misused his authority by allotting official accommodations to Judges of the District Court Islamabad and officials/staff of this Court as well as the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

“It has also been mentioned in the report that allotments were made to Judges of this Court [IHC] under Rule 6 (7) of the Accommodation Allocation Rules, 2002.”

The order said the NAB deputy prosecutor general and the investigation officer were asked if the allotments made to the IHC judges were illegal. They unequivocally stated that the allotments were legal and made under Rule 6 (7) of the Rules of 2002, the court order stated, adding that they [NAB officials] could not give any explanation for including the names of the judges in the list attached with the report if the allotments were as per their entitlement and in accordance with Rule 6 (7) of the Rules of 2002.

The court order went on to say: “Investigating officer was asked why he seeks arrest of the petitioner when it has been stated in the report that the out of turn allotments made to judges of the subordinate judiciary and staff/officials of this Court and the Supreme Court were made pursuant to a meeting held in this Court in August 2014? He had no plausible explanation to give in this regard.”

It said the NAB deputy prosecutor general and the investigation officer had failed to give any reason for keeping the report confidential. It raised serious questions regarding attempts to prejudice the pending proceedings by submitting a report which the investigation officer failed to explain.

“It is noted that we have consistently observed that no person or institution is above the law. We, as judges of the superior courts ought to be held accountable but any scandalisation of the court with the object of prejudicing pending proceedings cannot be tolerated,” the IHC bench observed.

It said the written report asserted that allotments were made pursuant to a meeting held in the IHC on Aug 25, 2014, adding that if that was the case then how arrest of the petitioner would be justified.

The court directed NAB to submit a detailed report along with complete record, including the minutes of the meeting stated to have been held on Aug 25, 2014.

“The bureau shall also explain why proceedings may not be initiated against the person responsible for, prima facie attempting to prejudicing the pending proceedings,” the IHC order said.

Government accommodations

The IHC administration sought details of the allotments made to the judges of the subordinate judiciary and officers of the Islamabad High Court in an alleged illegal manner.

A letter written by the IHC registrar to the housing and works secretary on Wednesday regarding “illegal allotment of accommodation to judges/officers of judiciary” stated that “it has come to the knowledge of the Hon’ble Chief Justice that in making the allotment of accommodation to the judges/officers of the judiciary, the Accommodation, Allocation Rules 2002, and the relevant judgments of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of Pakistan and High Court were being violated.”

It reminded the housing and works secretary that “no allotment of any accommodation should be made in violation of the above judgment and rules”. “Moreover, a list of the illegal allotments made in the past, along with reasons, be intimated to this court at an early date,” the letter added.

It may be mentioned that the Ministry of Housing and Works had in 2015 made out-of-turn allotment of government houses to judicial officers and staff of the IHC, including a brother of then chief justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi and officials who were brought in the IHC in a non-transparent manner. The Supreme Court had in subsequent year declared their appointments as illegal.

The allotments were made in violation of the law ministry’s advice that stated that the apex court decision on the observance of the General Waiting List was binding on all courts including the IHC, according to which the allotment is made on a seniority basis to the entitled government officials only.

It added that as per the Accommodation Allocation Rules 2002, the IHC employees were not entitled to the allotment of government houses.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2020