Rawalpindi:
A Rawal Pindi Responsibility Court on Wednesday canceled the arrest warrants issued to former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, while also reserving his decision on his application for an exemption from personal appearances.
Elahi has also formally challenged the legal validity of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which was filed against him.
The court accepted the petition that challenged the reference to hearing and ordered NAB to submit a detailed response. The hearing of the case has been postponed until July 17.
In the petition, which challenged the referral, Elahi’s legal team claimed that the document does not carry the Nab chairman’s signature, and that is dated. The lawyers requested that the reference be rejected quite rather than taken for trial.
Elahi personally appeared in court during the hearing of the reference, involving 26 co-accused, related to the alleged illegal allocation of the government forest land of Takht Pari.
The legal team representing Elahi advocates Qazi Misbah and Sardar Abdul Razzaq, ended their arguments about his plea for exemption from appearance.
When he argued for the assumption of the reference, lawyer Qazi Misbah said the document lacked both the Nab -Chairman’s signature and a date, making it legally unsustainable and declining.
However, NAB’s prosecutor Sardar Muzaffar contested the claim and claimed that the signature was actually present. In response, the defense attorney demanded that the signature be shown, as there is no such signature or date on the document.
The defense also quoted legal precedent in support of the exemption request and presented medical reports and claimed that due to Elahi’s worsening health, it was not possible for him to act during any hearing. The reports say Elahi has suffered broken ribs and can only sit with physical support during the trial.
The lawyer also claimed that under the Supreme Court’s guidance, an accused statement can be registered via video link.
When the judge was asked to turn to Rostrum, Elahi repeated: “My medical report is before you. Considering my condition, I cannot attend any consultation. Please consider my health or give me three weeks of relief.”
The defense claimed that Elahi’s condition requires him to sit with backrest and that participation in court would be extremely difficult every time.
However, the prosecution opposed both the exemption request and the placement of a three -week postponement, arguing that the defendant should act during the next hearing, after which the court could consider his request again.
The court ordered Elahi to ensure that his appearance during the next hearing and said, “You must show up on next date; we will decide what to do afterwards”.
