Summary Supreme Court issues notice to former Secretary Establishment over Rao Shakeel’s appointment.
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heard the Hajj corruption case.
The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Hussain Asghar, also chief investigation officer of the case, submitted a progress report to the apex court.
Hussain Asghar told SC that the FIA was investigating the appointment of Rao Shakeel.
He said Rao Shakeel’s appointment was made by Ismael Qureshi who was then secretary establishment.
The chief investigation officer said the Supreme Court had barred the FIA from arresting Qureshi.
The SC issued a notice to the former Secretary Establishment Ismael Qureshi and directed him to provide an explanation why the decision of not arresting him should not be withdrawn.
Hussain Asghar told SC that Governor Punjab, as chancellor of the Punjab province’s public-sector universities, was a hindrance in the verification of the university degree of Zain Sukhera, a former consultant to the Ministry of Information Technology and a close friend of a son of former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Responding to which, the Chief Justice said verification of degrees was not the remit of the chancellor but of a vice chancellor.
Hussain Asghar said even the vice chancellor of the Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) Multan was not cooperating in the matter.
The investigation officer told the court that a petition had been filed in the Supreme Court to challenge the interim order of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) over the arrest of Zain Sukhera.
The Chief Justice said this appeal would be considered during the next hearing of the case. Then the SC adjourned the hearing till November 19.
