ISLAMABAD: Former president Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday challenged the order of Supreme Court’s registrar office to return his pleas seeking transfer of four references pending against him from the accountability court of Islamabad to any such court in Karachi.

While returning the four separate petitions on Tuesday, the assistant registrar of the Supreme Court had observed that the applications amounted to a second review of the previous decisions of the apex court and, therefore, could not be entertained.

On Saturday, senior counsel Senator Farooq H. Naek on behalf of the ex-president moved the chamber appeals against the registrar office order, arguing that it was not sustainable in law as well as the case law enunciated by the Supreme Court. The fresh applications maintained that it was the constitutional right of the petitioner to knock at the door of the apex court for the safe administration of justice, but the registrar office order shows that the rights of the appellants have been blocked at the institutional level.

The question of the returning of the application over non-maintainability relates to the judicial work that cannot be taken up on the executive side or through delegation of powers for exercising judicial work, the applications emphasised.

Former president’s counsel argues registrar’s order violates rules

The counsel highlighted that the Nov 10 order was signed by Assistant Registrar (Civil-II) for Registrar, which was violative of Order 5, Rule I of the Supreme Court Rules. The assistant registrar exercising the powers of the registrar did not consider the law and has arbitrarily returned the applications of the appellant, the counsel argued, adding that the assistant registrar did not take into consideration paragraph 38 of earlier directives of the apex court on Jan 7, 2019 in which though directions were issued to National Accountability Bureau to initiate corruption references on fake accounts at the Islamabad accountability court but it also made it clear that the matter could be resurrected at any time on the application of any of the parties or at the discretion of the implementation bench.

Consequently, the appellant had the legal right to file the applications, which had been returned by the court office by terming it a second review, which was based on “misreading and non-reading” of the Jan 7, 2019 order, the counsel argued.

The leader of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party has been facing Toshakhana, fake accounts, Park Lane Estate Private Ltd and Thatta water supply references pending before the accountability court of Islamabad. The ex-president had already been indicted by the anti-graft court in the Toshakhanna (gift repository) reference on Sept 9, on the charges of money laundering for creating benami properties through Park Lane Estate Pvt Ltd on Aug 10, in the fake bank accounts scandal and the Thatta water supply reference on Oct 5.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2020