KARACHI, March 16: Former MNA Begum Salma Ahmed “shall remain in hospital till the next date of hearing of her petition”, the Sindh High Court ordered on Wednesday and adjourned the case to March 24. As the petition came up before a division bench, comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Azizullah M. Memon, National Accountability Bureau deputy prosecutor-general Shaukat Hussain Zubedi submitted that he had received notice late on Tuesday evening and could not prepare his brief. He said the notice was ordered to be issued on March 11 but delivered by the office on March 15.

The petitioner’s counsel, Rasheed A. Razvi, stated that the petitioner suffered from heart trouble and requested the court to restrain the prosecution agency, the NAB, from shifting her from the NICVD, where she was currently lodged. Mr Zubedi said it was not for the NAB to keep an accused in hospital or shift her or him from there. If an accused needed treatment in hospital, it would have no objection to hospitalization.

The bench observed that the notice was obviously too short for the DPG to proceed with arguments on the petition and allowed his request for adjournment. March 24 was fixed as the next date by consent and the petitioner ordered to be kept at NICVD in the meanwhile.