LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Aalia Neelum on Monday expressed displeasure over the absence of the lead counsel for the petitioner in a petition challenging confiscation of former federal minister Moonis Elahi’s assets.

A two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Neelum took up the petition filed by Qaisera Elahi, wife of former chief minister Parvez Elahi and mother of Moonis.

The chief justice expressed annoyance after the bench was informed that petitioner’s lead counsel Amir Saeed Rawn was not available due to a meeting of the Pakistan Bar Council.

The chief justice observed that it amounted to contempt of court that a lawyer went to attend a bar’s meeting instead of appearing before the court. The CJ regretted that such attitudes of lawyers were contributing to the growing backlog of pending cases.

An associate of Advocate Rawn asked the bench to grant time for preparation of arguments.

To a court’s query, the lawyer said Moonis Elahi was currently in Spain.

Initially the bench refused to allow more time, however, later the hearing was adjourned for a date to be fixed by the office.

Ms Elahi had challenged a decision of an accountability court regarding seizure of her son’s assets.

The accountability court had ordered the confiscation of Moonis’ assets, after he was declared a proclaimed offender following his failure to join the proceedings against him on charges of illegal assets.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2026