January 13, 2009	Tuesday	Muharram 15, 1430

RAWALPINDI, Jan 12: Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench has set aside the conviction of a lieutenant colonel by the Field General Court Martial (FGCM) on charges of concealing his property and enabled him to claim financial benefits from the army.

The unprecedented decision may open the floodgates to appeals against the military justice system.

Justice Maulvi Anwarul Haq of the LHC had reserved judgment on Dec 22 on a petition of former Lt-Col Munir Ahmed Gil who had invoked the jurisdiction of the court in the year 2000 against his 1999 conviction by the FGCM.

The court issued its written judgment on Monday to the petitioner’s lawyer, Mohammad Akram, who said the decision would dispel a perception that army personnel could not approach the high courts against verdicts of military courts.

Citing the defence ministry and the chief of the army staff (COAS) as respondents, the petitioner said her had been arrested in June 1997 by the special investigation branch on charges of receiving commission in the purchase of about 6,000 tons of sugar for military’s use. The branch kept him in custody for 105 days.

He was tried by the FGCM from 1997 to 1999 in Rawalpindi on charges of receiving commission, concealing his property and filing fake income tax returns. He was sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment and dismissal from service for filing false tax returns. The other charges were dropped.

His prison term was pardoned by the COAS in August 1999, but the sentence of dismissal from service was upheld by the army Court of Appeals, leaving no option for him but to invoke the jurisdiction of the LHC, the petitioner said.

He contended that the FGCM had overstepped its jurisdiction and convicted him on charges that could only be tried under income tax laws by a special civilian court. There was no precedent of convicting a military man on non-military charges, he said.

He had prayed to the court to declare the conviction and the sentence mala fide and of no legal effect. The lawyer said his client was to retire as a lieutenant colonel and he could now claim his lawful financial and departmental benefits from the army.