LAHORE, Nov 15: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Thursday dismissed two appeals by the Sharif family against appointment of inspectors in two mills of the defunct Ittefaq Group at the behest of the estranged Miraj family.

The orders to appoint inspectors of the Corporate Law Authority, since succeeded by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, were passed by Justice Munir A. Sheikh in 1994 following petitions moved by the Miraj family. As shareholders, the Miraj family members alleged gross mismanagement by the Sharif family in effective control of the Brothers Textile Mills, Brothers Sugar, Ramzan Sugar and another Ittefaq concern.

The Sharif family challenged the orders in appeal and a division bench stayed them by an interim order. Two appeals were finally decided on Thursday by a division bench comprising justices Nasim Sikandar and Mansoor Ahmad. The bench upheld Justice Munir Sheikh’s orders in respect of Brothers Textile and Sugar and adjourned the appeals in respect of the remaining two mills to next week.

summons suspendED: The Lahore High Court has suspended the summons issued by an additional sessions judge to former SSP Syed Kalbe Abbas in a murder case.

Two constables were accused of hitting motorcyclist Wasim Raja, who was involved in a collision with another motorcyclist and had fallen on the roadside, to death on Nov 12, 2000. The FIR was registered by the Ghalib Market police station on the complaint of the brother of the deceased, Amin Prince. Successive inquiries by police officials, however, exonerated the accused and Amin moved a private complaint.

The magisterial inquiry found the two constables prima facie guilty of murder. Amin had also accused in his complaint to the magistrate six police officers, including Model Town SP Jawwad Dogar and Crimes Branch SP Syed Aftab Ejaz, of distorting and destroying evidence in the course of investigation.

Petitioner Kalbe Abbas, who was SSP of Lahore at the time of the incident and during investigations, was also summoned by the additional sessions judge following the receipt of the magisterial inquiry report.

Challenging the sessions court summons in the Lahore High Court through Barrister Salim Sahgal, he said the case did not disclose sufficient grounds for summoning him. Describing the complaint against police officials as ‘part of a campaign to pressurize the Police Department,’ Mr Abbas said he did not conduct investigations and the only part played by him was to transfer the probe at the request of the complainant.

Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry on Wednesday suspended the summons till Nov 30 and issued notices to complainant Amin Prince for the same date.