KARACHI, Sept 19: An Accountability Court issued notice to the prosecution on an application of the defence counsel for Syed Ghous Ali Shah, a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and former defence minister, in a corruption reference.

Judge Qaiser Iqbal of the AC-1, who is also the administrative judge of all ACs in Karachi division, fixed Oct 16 for hearing the application seeking appearance of the director, administration, of the Civil Aviation Authority in the court as court witness.

Syed Ghaus Ali Shah, presently abroad on medical grounds, was charged with appointing 122 people in the CAA, a department under the ministry of defence, in violation of rules and regulations during 1992 and 1993 when he was the defence minister.

Mr Shah's counsel, Fahim Riyaz Siddiqui and Arshad Jadoon, submitted that the director-general of the CAA had regularised the services of all 122 people involved in the reference.

They stated that 112, out of total 122, people were given regular jobs in the CAA after they duly appeared in tests and interviews this January. The PML (Nawaz) leader was initially arrested in the famous October 12 plane hijacking case.