A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Thursday decided to rehear the petition of former DG LDA Ahad Cheema against his arrest in Asihiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme's scam and sought reply from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) by April 02. The bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh had reserved its verdict on March 27 after conclusion of arguments in the matter.
The bench, however, deferred the announcement of the decision as the NAB had not so far filed its written reply to the petition. Azam Nazir Tarar, counsel of Ahad Cheema, had contended in his arguments that the NAB violated its own laws by arresting the petitioner without any justification. He said Cheema had extended its full cooperation to the investigating team of the bureau and also furnished all information before it. He asked the court to set aside the arrest of the petitioner and order the NAB to release him.
On the other side, NAB prosecutor Rana Arif objected to the maintainability of the petition and said the petitioner was on physical remand. He asked the court to dismiss the petition for being not maintainable as arrest could not be challenged during physical remand.