A Rawalpindi magistrate on Thursday ordered an assistant registrar of the Supreme Court (SC) and four other accused to submit surety bonds worth Rs50,000 each to ensure their appearance during the trial of a gun attack case filed against them.

Judicial Magistrate Muhammad Owais had summoned SC Assistant Registrar Ghulam Ghous and several other office-bearers of the Supreme Court Employees Cooperative Housing Society (SCECHS) on a complaint of the society’s developer and landowner Akash Afzal.

The plaintiff stated in his complaint that he had purchased land in Islamabad's sector G-17 and entered into a joint agreement with SCECHS to develop the land for the latter. However, the contractor later accused Ghous, who is president of the society, of embezzlement of funds and lodged a complaint with the authorities against him.

Afzal maintained that Ghous and several other office-bearers of SCECHS visited his office on March 18 last year and clashed with the office staff. He alleged that Ghous opened fire and injured one of his employees.

After police refused to entertain his complaint against Ghous and other officials, Afzal claims he filed a private complaint in the court of the judicial magistrate.

On Thursday, all five accused, including Ghous, appeared before the magistrate who ordered them to submit surety bonds of Rs50,000 each on or before February 10.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar had on Wednesday expressed dissatisfaction over the pace of work at SCECHS in Islamabad.

The chief justice had directed the director general of Intelligence Bureau (IB) to conduct a preliminary inquiry to ascertain the causes of the delay in completion of the project and allotment of plots to SC employees.