ISLAMABAD, Feb 27: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered that if the case against PPP leader Jehangir Badar, pending before the accountability court, was not decided within 30 days, he should be released on bail.

The Supreme Court directed the accountability court to decide the case within 30 days, and in case of failure the trial court should admit the petitioner to bail subject to furnishing bail bond of Rs2 million and two sureties in the like amount.

The SC bench consisted of Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Rana Bhagwandas and Justice Mian Mohammad Ajmal.

Advocate Akram Sheikh, counsel for Mr Badar, argued that there was no allegation of monetary gains against his client or financial loss to the exchequer.

He pointed out that under similar allegation, the apex court had allowed bail to Anwar Saifullah Khan in four references and in four other references the bail granted to him by the high court was not cancelled. He said allegations against Mr Saifullah were of heinous nature and the state was claiming a loss of Rs670 million in the eight references, yet the state granted him bail.

The counsel stated that the SC always adhered to the rule of consistency. The only difference between Mr Badar’s and Mr Saifullah’s cases was that the later hailed from a privileged class while his client was a grass-roots political worker.

The counsel stated that if Mr Badar was treated in a different manner, it would eclipse the dignity of the apex court and would be violative of the rule of consistency.

He submitted that only two witnesses were produced by the prosecution over the last 20 months and those witnesses, too, had not supported the prosecution.

Raja Ibrahim Satti, counsel for the National Accountability Bureau, opposed the request for bail on the grounds of delay and on merit. He stated that all the delay caused in the case was not attributable to the prosecution, rather majority of the adjournments had been sought by the defence. Yet, he said, it was not a case of inordinate delay.

The counsel said that NAB was ready to conclude the trial within the time-limit given by the apex court.

On merit, the counsel argued that Mr Badar was, prima facie, connected with the charges levelled against him and cited a case from Indian jurisdiction.

He said the Supreme Court of India had directed the CBI to register a case against Satish Sharma, minister for petroleum, who had granted permission for 14 petrol pumps, terming it breach of trust by minister.