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Published 21 Sep, 2013 07:02am

Additional sessions judge suspended, inquiry initiated

ISLAMABAD, Sept 20: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has suspended additional sessions judge Raja Khurram Ali Khan for allegedly extending favours to an individual in a land dispute and ordered inquiry against him.

The disputed eight kanal plot, located in Sector I-9 Industrial Area, is in possession of Mohammad Akram, the alleged favourite of the judge.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) had auctioned the plot in 1977 and allotted it to Akram the same year after he deposited 10 per cent of the payment to the civic agency.

Akram however did not deposit the remaining amount and established a marble factory on the plot. The CDA tried to retrieve the plot in 2000 but Akram obtained a stay order against the authority’s move.

According to the CDA, the current market value of the plot is more than Rs400 million.

In 2010, the CDA filed an appeal against the stay order in a sessions court and got it vacated, and after reclaiming the land the civic body sealed it.

Prior to appointment as additional sessions judge on September 13, 2012, Raja Khurram Ali Khan, according to the CDA complaint, was the counsel for Akram in a number of cases.

According to the complaint, Akram then filed an application before Raja Khurram and obtained a stay order in his favour.

After getting the order, Akram broke the seal of the plot and reoccupied the land.

When the CDA tried to evict Akram, he filed another application under section 22-A before Raja Khurram for registration of FIR against the CDA chairman, Nadeem Hassan Asif, director enforcement Liaquat Abbasi and others.

Raja Khurram accepted the application and passed the orders for the registration of the FIR against the CDA officials.

The Capital Development Authority chairman, Nadeem Hassan Asif, then filed two separate complaints against additional sessions judge Raja Khurram – one with Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and the second with IHC Chief Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi.

In the complaint, the CDA chief pointed out that in the past Akram was a client of Raja Khurram hence he could not hear his application.

He also alleged that the orders passed by the additional sessions judge against the civic agency were arbitrary and unjust.

The complaint said that at the time when Raja Khurram issued the stay order in June 28, 2013 the plot was in CDA possession but Akram not only forcibly occupied the plot but also obtained another order from the same judge for registering FIR against the CDA authorities.

The sources in the IHC told Dawn that the high court administration following receipt of the complaint suspended the additional sessions judge and also initiated a disciplinary inquiry against him.

IHC Registrar Meeran Jan Kakar is conducting the inquiry and on Friday, CDA director enforcement Liaquat Abbasi recorded the statement before him.

Earlier, the CDA chairman also recorded his statement against the additional sessions judge.

Sources said that Raja Khurram in his statement denied the allegations leveled against him by the Capital Development Authority.

The registrar, after recording the statements of all stakeholders, would send them to IHC Chief Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi along with some recommendation and the chief justice would decide the fate of additional sessions judge Raja Khurram, the sources added.

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