Dar's house as shelter home: LHC suspends Punjab government's decision

The Lahore High Court on Monday suspended the Punjab government's decision to convert a house of former federal minister Ishaq Dar into a shelter home and sought reply from the government and the NAB within ten days in a petition of Tabassum Ishaq, wife of the former minister.

An accountability court on November 07 last, had ordered to auction Dar's attached property situated in the area of Gulberg, Lahore, however, on January 28, Islamabad High Court had issued a restraining order against the accountability court's order.

The petitioner's counsel pleaded that the Punjab government's decision is illegal as the Islamabad High Court had already issued a stay order against auction of the same. He said Ishaq Dar's wife Mrs. Tabassum Dar had pleaded before IHC that her husband had purchased it before entering politics and gifted the house to her on February 14, 1989 as dower money.

The lawyer pointed out that government also committed a violation of NAB Ordinance 1999 as under Section 12(F) the status of any attached property could not be changed till the final disposal of the case. He said this order restricts not only the government but also other institutions against amending the status of the attached properties. He argued that section 88 of Criminal procedure Code 1989 also prohibited the government to either auction or mutates the attached property until the final decision of the civil suit already pending with the relevant court.

After hearing initial arguments, Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan suspended Punjab government's decision to convert Dar's house into a shelter home.