September 16, 2008	Tuesday	Ramazan 15, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Sept 15: The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the transfer of pending proceedings in the Rs9 billion Bank of Punjab (BoP) scam from the Lahore High Court to the Islamabad High Court with an observation that the conduct and behaviour of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore seemed not above board.

A three-member bench, comprising Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Ijazul Hassan and Chaudhry Ejaz Yousaf, while announcing its judgment on a petition of the Haris Steel Industries against the NAB, ordered to entrust all pending cases before the LHC to the IHC for disposal on merit.

Senior advocate Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, Wasim Sajjad and Senator Babar Awan had filed a petition in the apex court on behalf of the Haris Steel Industries, pleading for shifting of the hearing of the BoP scam case by exercising powers conferred to the apex court through P.O. No. 5 of 2007 by former president Pervez Musharraf.

The powers were delegated to the Supreme Court by amending Article 186-A of the Constitution to transfer any of the pending cases from any high court to its own file.

The petitioners had claimed that they were not getting justice from the high court as it was situated in the Punjab, under the influence of Nawaz Sharif and his brother and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Despite earlier directions of the high court not to harass the accused and not to raid the premises of the steel industries, the NAB had seized in a raid fake NICs, documents of fake companies, fake land collaterals and stock exchange business documents worth Rs4 billion, shares worth Rs300 millions and net cash of more than Rs14 million.

But on July 15, the high court had even refused to proceed with the matter.

This is the same case in which the apex court had ordered the arrest of two senior officers of the NAB for contempt by beating and humiliating an accused on the court premises on July 24. Later these officers were released when they tendered unconditional apologies before the court.

Advocate Mohammad Akram Sheikh, representing the Bank of Punjab, had opposed the petitions by stating that the high court was an apex constitutional and appellate court within the province and its basic role was to decide appeals and constitutional issues within reasonable time. Since justice delayed is justice denied, therefore the stakeholders should let the high court focus on its real job.

Citing 1999 Benazir Bhutto case, Mr Sheikh argued that the power vested in the Supreme Court to transfer cases from one high court to another was an extraordinary power used only for meeting the ends of justice.

Under Article 186-A, a party cannot seek transfer of a case from one high court to another on the ground of bias on part of a judge of the high court.