QUETTA, Sept 1: Mr Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry of Supreme Court Quetta Bench has allowed Saudi Pak Commercial Bank to auction remaining properties of Shaikh Abdul Sattar Lasi Group, mortgaged with the Bank as security.

Sattar Lasi had filed a petition praying the court to restrain the bank from auctioning properties as they had challenged vires of Section 15 of Financial Institutions (Recovery of Finances) Ordinance 2001, in the Balochistan High Court.

The Supreme Court had directed that the process of selling property should be completed in line with conditions appeared in public notice but had stopped documentation till Aug 25.

On the last hearing, the SC bench heard Nafees A. Siddiqi, counsel of Saudi-Pak Bank and the petitioner’s lawyers and ordered: “The bank shall be free to auction remaining properties of petitioner (Sattar Lasi) subject to the same condition. Further with consent of parties’ counsel, order of Aug 13, 2003 is extended with observation that till next date of hearing, final documentation shall not take place in respect of sale process as per bidding, which has already taken place.”—PPI