LAHORE, March 17: The Lahore High Court registrar office returned for the sixth time on Wednesday the writ petition against the privatization of the Habib Bank, maintaining its earlier objection that the petition should be filed with the LHC's Rawalpindi bench.

The office had raised the objection on the grounds that all the parties concerned, held as respondents, were based in Islamabad. Tasneem Shaukat Khan, who filed the petition on behalf of the Watan Party on Feb 24 last, challenged the bank's privatization through Barrister Zafarullah Khan, saying it had been sold to the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development for Rs22.4 billion whereas its price should range between Rs80 and Rs100 billion in view of its working capital and a vast network of branches within the country and abroad.

The petitioner said the sale of the bank's 51 per cent shares to the Aga Khan Fund was malicious also because the previous government turned down an offer by a Canadian firm for the bank's purchase for Rs60 billion.