LAHORE, March 26: A division bench of the Lahore High Court decided on Tuesday to hear the defunct Ittefaq Group assets’ distribution case from day to day with effect from April 22.

Appearing for the Siraj and Miraj families of the group, Advocate Mansoor Ali Shah pressed for early hearing as the two families had been left high and dry by the impugned March 1999 judgment of Justice Malik Muhammad Qayyum, who has since resigned. He said, in fact, the Sirajs and the Mirajs had been expelled from the actual operations and management of the various units of the group since the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the distribution of Ittefaq assets in 1991.

The judgment has also been challenged in varying degrees by the Shafi, Bashir and Barkat families of the group. It has been accepted in toto by the Sharif and Aziz families. The main controversy revolves around the steel division of the group, which was surrendered by Mian Nawaz Sharif, the then prime minister, in June 1998 to satisfy outstanding debts.

The Siraj and Miraj families say that, according to the 1991 MoU, the Sharifs had no right to surrender the three steel units, which should not have been excluded from the group assets for the purpose of distribution. They say that the liabilities and losses incurred by the various units should have been taken out from the assets to calculate their net worth before distribution.

Advocates Ashtar Ausaf Ali, Azmat Saeed and Ali Sibtain Fazli appeared for other families.