Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday issued notices to the Interior Ministry while seeking its reply till February 17 in a government appeal against the provision of a bullet-proof car to the former Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
IHC bench comprising Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi and Justice Aamir Farooq heard the case in which Additional Attorney General Afnan Karim Kundi informed the court that an IHC single bench ordered the provision of a bullet-proof car to Justice Chaudhry without hearing the stance of Cabinet Division and the Law Ministry whereby the Cabinet Division was the custodian of the official cars while the Law Ministry through the said order has been assigned to bear the fuel cost of the bullet-proof vehicle provided to a retired CJP.
He further said the petitioners who sought a bullet-proof car for the ex-CJP had no locus standi. Justice Chaudhry might be an aggrieved party but he never raised any request to get the bullet-proof car. Advocate Ahsanuddin Sheikh said that former registrar Supreme Court Dr Faqir Mohammad, 15 days prior to the retirement of Justice Chaudhry, had written a letter to the Interior Ministry for provision of a bullet-proof car to Justice Chaudhry after his retirement. Advocate Sheikh said the Interior Ministry was a respondent in the matter and it never filed appeal against the order in which IHC single bench had ordered the government to provide a bullet-proof car to an ex-CJP.