Justice Farooq recuses himself from hearing Chaudhry brothers’ plea against NAB

LAHORE (92 News) – Justice Farooq Haider has recused himself from the bench hearing the plea of Chaudhry brothers’ against the authority of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman. A Lahore High Court (LHC) bench heard plea of Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) leaders challenging authority of NAB chairman. LHC Bar Association president Tahir Nasarullah Warraich objected to the presence of Justice Haider on the bench. “The judge had represented the Chaudhry brothers in number of cases before his elevation,” he raised the point on appearance of justice Farooq in the bench. However, Justice Farooq has distanced himself from the bench hearing the petition Bench head Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem sent the file to the chief justice for constituting the new bench. Chief justice Qasim Khan Chaudhry will form a new to hear the plea of PML-Q leaders. Earlier, the Chaudhry brothers has filed the petition against the NAB chairman and challenged the authority of bureau chief. The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday accepted the plea for hearing filed by PML-Q leaders Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi against the authority of NAB chairman. After a preliminary hearing, a bench of the LHC issued notices to NAB chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal and other respondents to come up with their response to the petition by the next hearing slated for May 11. Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and other PML-Q leaders appeared before the court during the hearing. In their petition, the petitioners alleged that the bureau is an institution of political engineering. The anti-graft watchdog’s head has ordered a probe into a 19-year-old case against them, despite the fact that the bureau had carried out an inquiry into it almost two decades back but couldn’t find anything incriminating, they said. The petitioners also stated that the NAB chief lacks the authority to reopen a matter that has already been closed and pleaded with the LHC bench to declare void his orders in this regard.