Toshakhana case: IHC again passes the buck to trial court

PTI chief's plea to transfer case to another court has been rejected

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday again remanded the Toshakhana case against the PTI chief to the trial court to decide on its maintainability by invalidating its previous decision.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq issued the ruling on a set of petitions filed by the former prime minister challenging the admissibility of the case, jurisdiction of the court and other aspects of the case. 

The high court has rejected a petition of the PTI chief, seeking transfer of the case to another court, as it ruled that Additional Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar will continue to hear the case.

In a petition regarding rejection of the PTI chief’s witness list, the IHC has issued notices to the parties and sought their reply till next week.

This is the third time that the IHC has remanded the case to the trial court to decide on the admissibility as the latter had twice declared it maintainable.

On May 10, the PTI chief was indicted in the case by Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar who dismissed objections to the admissibility of the case.

On July 4, the IHC nullified the decision of the trial court that had turned down the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman’s plea challenging the admissibility of the Toshakhana case.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq announced the verdict reserved on June 23 after hearing arguments on the petition of the former prime minister against the trial court’s ruling. The chief justice sent the matter back to the trial court, ordering it to again hear the arguments of the PTI. He gave the trial court seven days to decide the PTI chairman's plea in the Toshakhana case.

The petition had been filed after the PTI chief was indicted in the case on May 10 - two days after the high court had stopped criminal proceedings in the case.

The Case

Last year, a reference was filed against him by lawmakers from the ruling coalition accusing him of not sharing the details of gifts he retained from Toshakhana in his assets declarations and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had concluded in October last year that the PTI chief filed false statements regarding the gifts.

The electoral watchdog subsequently disqualified him for being dishonest and corrupt and approached the district and sessions court seeking criminal proceedings against the PTI chief for allegedly misleading officials about the gifts.