ISLAMABAD, Feb 18: The Supreme Court on Tuesday took notice of Jehangir Badar’s retrial in a case he had been acquitted in 1990, and directed the registrar to produce record of the case in the Supreme Court on Feb 25.

The Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice Munir A. Sheikh directed the Registrar LHC to produce the record of the case (Amin Brothers Reference).

The superintendent and clerk of the LHC, who had given the certificate to the government that the judge had returned the reference, has also been directed to appear on the next hearing.

Justice Sheikh observed as judge of the LHC, he had returned the Ehtesab Reference by recording a judicial order that the evidence produced was not cogent enough to prove the charges.

Advocate Akram Shaikh, counsel for Jehangir Badar stated that his client had been applying for judicial record to show that he had been acquitted, but record was denied to him.

The counsel said the NAB refiled the same case, on the basis of a clerk’s statement that Justice Sheikh had returned the file to the referring authority after examining the reference.

The counsel said his client was being pressured to join the PPP splinter group, and Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, the interior minister, had met him last week when he had gone to appear before the accountability court. In the same case, the investigation agency had tortured, Mian Mohammad Arshad, a businessman from Lahore, to death.

The court directed Ibrahim clerk should also be produced before court on the next date. The court expressed its dismay over the refiling of such cases which have already been disposed off by the superior courts in the nineties.

Advocate Raja Ibrahim Satti, who represented the NAB, stated that as Justice Sheikh had passed some order in the case, he should first determine whether it would be appropriate for him to hear the petition, seeking bail.

Justice Sheikh observed that he would not hear the bail application as he had dealt with the petitioner’s case on similar charges and referred it to the chief justice for placing it before some other bench on the next hearing.

The SC bench consisted of Justice Munir A. Sheikh, Justice Syed Deedar Hussain Shah and Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar. Justice Sheikh said that he had returned the reference after recording his opinion in terms of Article 4(3) of PPO 17 of 1977.

The former federal minister Jehangir Badar was arrested by the NAB on Aug 8, 2001 on allegations that during his tenure he had made illegal appointments and distributed employment quota illegally.