The Supreme Court on Friday disposed of a plea filed against former presidents Pervez Musharraf, Asif Ali Zardari and attorney general Malik Qayyum, seeking recovery of losses that dented national kitty in the wake of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) promulgation during 2007.
Advocate Feroz Shah Gillani, president of Lawyers Foundation for Justice, had filed the plea in July 2018 for recovery of the amount from the respondents. However, in November 2018, the apex court sought a concise statement of the petitioner in order to decide the maintainability of the matter before further adjudication. On Friday, a three-member bench led by the Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar observed that the bench shall not proceed further in the matter as the respondents had submitted details of their assets on record.
Over absence of the petitioner in the proceeding on medical grounds, the chief justice ruled that Gillani may further pursue the matter before proper forum for remedy, saying the petitioner already had submitted a concise statement in the current public interest litigation. Later, the bench dismissed the plea.
Making Pervez Musharraf, Asif Ali Zardari and Malik Abdul Qayyum as respondents, petitioner Feroz Shah Gillani had requested the Court for directives to recover “huge amounts of public money” misappropriated and wasted by the respondents through unlawful means “already on record in different judgments of the Supreme Court and high court”.
Published in Daily Times, January 5th 2019
