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| April 12, 2003 | Saturday | Safar 9, 1424 |
SC issues notice to NAB on bail plea
ISLAMABAD, April 11: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the National Accountability Bureau to explain if a person convicted in absentia on the charge of not appearing before the court was entitled to bail without first surrendering to the authorities.
The decision of the apex court on the issue would also have political relevance as the PPP Chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, had been convicted twice by the accountability courts on same charge — failure to appear before the court where a case is pending against her.
After hearing Abdul Hafeez Pirzada on the petition of Abdul Razzak Abbasi, former excise and taxation officer, Hyderabad, the SC issued a notice to the prosecutor-general accountability to appear before the court on April 18.
Abdul Razzak Abbasi was awarded three-year imprisonment under section 31-A of the NAB Ordinance. He, too, like Benazir Bhutto, was declared absconder by an accountability court in Karachi.
He approached the Sindh High Court, seeking bail before he appeared before the NAB authorities. The court dismissed his petition with the observation that an absconder was not entitled to bail and he should first surrender before the authorities.
The petitioner then approached the Supreme Court, but it also refused to entertain his petition. The Supreme Court registrar took the view that petition for bail of an absconder could not be entertained as the rules required that he should first surrender before the authorities and then seek protection of law. The petitioner, however, challenged the order of the Supreme Court registrar before a judge in chambers. The judge directed the SC office to register the petition for bail and fix it before the court to decide if an absconder was entitled to bail or not before surrendering.
The Supreme Court bench consisted of Chief Justice Shaikh Riaz Ahmad, Justice Mian Mohammad Ajmal and Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi.
The petitioner stated that he appeared before the Sindh High Court when his bail petition was taken up. He said the SHC was aware of his presence in the court and dismissal of his petition was unwarranted.
It is perhaps the second case of its nature before the Supreme Court in which an absconder has approached for bail before his surrender to the authorities.
In an earlier case Maqbool Lehri, mayor of Quetta, had approached the court for the same relief and the apex court had sent back the matter to the high court that his case should be heard on merit.
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