Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) Justice Babar Sattar dismissed on Monday pleas filed by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) seeking his recusal from a case pertaining to audio leaks.
Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan also appeared before the court.
During the hearing, Justice Sattar imposed fines worth Rs500,000 each on the FIA, PTA and PEMRA while dismissing their pleas seeking his recusal.
On Saturday, PEMRA, PTA FIA and IB filed an application before the IHC on seeking Justice Babar Sattar’s recusal from the audio leaks case.
In a petition, the authorities pleaded with Justice Sattar to distance himself from the case. PEMRA maintained in the plea that the case remains pending despite its chairman appearing before the court multiple times.
A separate bench of the IHC has already decided on another case of a similar nature, PEMRA added. The petition noted that the same bench should decide on this case as well.
“To fulfill the demands of justice, Justice Babar should excuse himself from hearing the case,” the petition maintained.