Riaz challenges formation of one-man commission

KHUDAYAR MOHLA

ISLAMABAD: A review petition filed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday challenged the formation of a one-man commission under Dr. Shoaib Suddle to investigate alleged Rs342 million business deals between Malik Riaz Hussain and son of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Dr Arsalan Iftikhar. 

The Supreme Court on 30 August appointed former police official and incumbent Federal Tax Ombudsman Dr. Suddle to investigate the matter, instead of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), in response to Dr Arsalan Iftikhar’s review petition.

Submitting a petition under Article 188 of the Constitution, Zahid Hussain Bokhari, the counsel for Malik Riaz, contended that there was a serious flaw in the apex court’s order of August 30, 2012.  Bokhari submitted that a review petition only examined whether there was an error apparent on the record. If there is no error then the review is dismissed, according to him.

Bokhari also contended that the petition was filed maliciously in order to create obstacles and hindrances towards the investigation that was being conducted against Arsalan Iftikhar.

 He further alleged the letters (reference made in the review petition) sent by the counsel for Arsalan Iftikhar to Chairman NAB amounted to exerting influence, intimidating and harassing the NAB officials with the objective of refraining the bureau from conducting the investigation in a fair manner.

Riaz’s counsel questioned whether the court was justified in delegating judicial powers to the commission headed by a police officer and whether the commission could perform a judicial function. He also queried whether the court could delegate its powers to a commission which performed a ministerial function, whose scope was limited and clearly defined in the Supreme Court Rules.

“Whether the apex court has authority under any provision of the constitution or Supreme Court Rules to appoint a commission in a review petition without declaring its earlier order of June 14, 2012 as illegal and incorrect,” the petitioner questioned. Riaz apprehended that he could not expect fair play and justice from Dr. Suddle. He claimed that Suddle was one of the guests at Dr. Arsalan Iftikhar’s wedding party while the Chief Justice of Pakistan attended the marriage ceremony of Dr. Shoaib Suddle’s son in December 2011.

He urged the court to recall its judgment of August 30, 2012 and enforce its judgment, issued on June 14, 2012 in its true spirit and in the supreme interest of justice.