Islamabad High Court (IHC) has rejected the petition on Wednesday to stop the auction of Nawaz Sharif’s properties.
Three citizens; Mian Iqbal Barkat, Muhammad Ashraf, and Aslam Aziz, had filed petitions in the Islamabad High Court against the auction of properties in the Tosha Khana case against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, seeking a stay in the auction process.
The court declared the petitions inadmissible and ruled that the petitioner had an alternative forum.
The court said that the trial court can be approached to stop the auction, so the High Court cannot hear these petitions under Article 199 of the Constitution if there is an alternative forum.
Citizen Ashraf Malik took the position that he had bought the property of Sheikhurpura for Rs. 7.5 crore so the auction should be stopped.
He said that he had paid the Sheikhupura land to Nawaz Sharif but the final agreement could not be reached due to the arrest of the former prime minister.
Ashraf Malik claimed that he had approached the civil court to implement the agreement, so the auction decision should be annulled.
On the other hand, citizen Iqbal Barkat also requested to stop the auction and said that the property is scheduled for an auction is a non-corporate asset of Ittefaq Group which was distributed among 7 families of Ittefaq Group.
He said that a four-member committee was constituted for the distribution of the said assets and on April 6, 2014, a joint agreement was reached between all seven families.
The petitioner took the position that the house in question was being allotted to Mian Barkat Ali in the distribution of assets and he had moved to the said house in 2017-18.
Mian Iqbal Barkat claimed that the matter of distribution of the property was also known to the NAB investigating officers and no notice was issued to the petitioner.
He asked the court to declare the auction order illegal and in violation of the established rules of law and annul it immediately as the decision was taken without hearing the position of the petitioner.
On the other hand, Aslam Aziz, a citizen, took a stand in his petition that he had invested in leasing orchards in Lahore, so the auction should be stopped.
“I have invested in Nawaz Sharif’s orchards in Lahore and acquired the land from the former prime minister under a lease agreement,” he said.
The petitioner said that he has invested heavily in the orchards of Jaman, Guava, Grapefruit and Lemon but Deputy Commissioner Lahore has decided to take possession of the orchards and land for auction.
Aslam Aziz said that the land of Lahore falls within the boundary wall of Raiwind and the Sharif family’s family cemetery and gardens are on this land so the auction process should be stopped.
It may be recalled that last month, the Islamabad Accountability Court had ordered the auction of the property of PML-N leader and accused Nawaz Sharif in the Tosha Khana reference.
The court, while accepting NAB’s request for auction of Nawaz Sharif’s property, had said in its order that wherever Nawaz Sharif’s property is, the concerned provincial government would be able to auction it, while the deputy commissioner had sought a report from Lahore and Sheikhupura within 60 days. ۔
The NAB had decided to auction 105 acres of Nawaz Sharif’s land in Lahore and 88 Kanal in Sheikhupura.
[embedpost slug=”nab-requests-issuance-of-permanent-arrest-warrant-against-nawaz-sharif/”]
Read more
