LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday dismissed plea of a PML-N leader Raja Hanif Abbasi seeking transfer of his appeal from Rawalpindi to Lahore challenging a decree of Rs 05 million passed in favour of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust against him.
A sessions court in Rawalpindi had fined Hanif Abbasi in a defamation suit of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust in 2012. The suit had claimed Rs 100 million against Hanif Abbasi for maligning the members of the trust’s board of governors.
Hanif Abbasi challenged the decision through an appeal before Rawalpindi bench of the august court.
The bench however, rescued it from the appeal on personal reasons. Therefore, he asked the Chief Justice LHC to transfer the appeal from Rawalpindi to the principal seat in Lahore.
Opposing the transfer application of Hanif Abbasi, the trust’s counsel Rabbiya Bajwa argued that the applicant filed the appeal at the Rawalpindi bench and hence it could not be shifted to the principal seat.
The Chief Justice inclining with the trust’s counsel Rabbiya Bajwa dismissed the transfer application of Hanif Abbasi.
As per the suit, Hanif Abbasi in a television program had stated that the board’s members took salaries in millions of rupees from Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital.
He alleged that the 19 board members were relatives of Prime Minister Imran Khan, while the trust claimed that none of the board members took any money on any account and only three board members were relatives of Chairman of the board of governors Imran Khan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021