NRO case: SC rejects Govts plea for more time, change of counsel
Pakistan
NRO case: SC rejects Govts plea for more time, change of counsel
The Supreme Court has rejected the government's plea to change its lawyer and more time in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) case, Dunya News reported on Monday. A three-member bench of the apex court was hearing a government plea for change of counsel in the case. The government, however, decided to file a review petition against the Superior Courts rejection of change of counsel in the case, sources revealed. The apex court further ordered the government to withdraw the notification of Barrister Kamal Azfar's appointment as Adviser to the Prime Minister. During the hearing, the notification of Azfar's appointment as Adviser was produced in the court. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry also directed that Azfar's appointment notification should be withdrawn. On Saturday, the governments counsel Raja Abdul Ghafoor, advocate-on-record, filed an application in the SC seeking more time in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) review petition to engage another counsel in place of Barrister Kamal Azfar, who was appointed the Adviser to the Prime Minister. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry remarked that it is not good to humiliate the superior court to such an extent, adding that the government seemed to be joking with the SC. During hearing the petitioner Advocate Salman Akram Raja requested to the court to cancel the notification regarding the appointment of Kamal Azfars as advisor to the PM, pleading that he was supposed to assist the court in the NRO case. The CJ observed that the government, if serious, should retract Azfars appointment notification so to enable him to represent the former in NRO review petition. Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday maintained that the government is employing delaying tactics to get the hearing postponed. First the government related the NRO implementation case with review petition and now it is not letting the court to hear even the review plea, the CJP lamented. Hearing of all the important cases including NRO implementation, its review plea and others will be resumed on Oct 13, the CJ said. The court rejected the government request and ordered Barrister Kamal Azfar to appear before the court on behalf of the government in the hearing of the case on October 13th. This was the third time that the government had sought more time to appoint another counsel on behalf of the federation.At the last hearing on September 27, the court had accepted the governments request for putting off the hearing on implementation of its judgment on the NRO and fixed the review petition for October 13. Govt moves show its weakness: Justice (r) WajihuddinJustice (r) Wajihuddin, while talking to Dunya News, said that the governments moves are aimed at getting the case postponed. He said that the defendants case is weak and that was why they are resorting to such delaying tactics. He said that the government is left with no option then to yield to SC orders.
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