KARACHI, Jan 16: Justice Ghulam Rabbani of the Sindh High Court referred on Monday six cases against former revenue minister Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh, his brother Maqbool Sheikh and others to the chief justice for hearing by a new judge.

The cases were earlier being heard by Justice Mushir Alam, who has meanwhile been assigned to the SHC’s Hyderabad circuit. The cases, including murder and anti-corruption cases, came up before Justice Ghulam Rabbani, who referred them to the CJ after hearing the counsel for the various accused.

The court took a serious view of Imtiaz Sheikh’s absence on Monday. It observed that the accused is on interim bail in a number of cases and should not have absented himself without permission of the court.

Advocate Masooda Siraj said the accused could not appear due to illness. The court said it was not informed of his illness and warned that the interim pre-arrest bail order could be recalled if he behaved improperly. The counsel undertook to produce a medical certificate on the next date of hearing.

The interim bail orders of the accused were extended till Feb 6, the next date of hearing. Rasheed A. Razvi, Shaukat Hussain Zubedi, Raza Hashmi, Mohammad Jamil and Mohammad Nawaz Shaikh appeared for the various parties.