Bail plea dismissed over withdrawal of petition

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Monday dismissed the bail plea filed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Local Government Chief Engineer Asghar Ali over withdrawal of petition.

A two-member bench of the apex court comprising Justic Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed heard the bail plea.

During the course of proceedings, the counsel for the petitioner said Peshawar High Court had granted bail to the accused besides the applicant.

He pleaded the court to accept his client’s bail in the light of amended laws of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as he had no role in releasing the project funds from the department.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial asked the counsel that he did not raise the point about new law and release of co-accused from the high court.

He said the applicant had confirmed the contractor’s bank guarantee.

He asked the counsel that he could repeat the same points in the high court for bail.

He said the applicant had admitted that the money was released in his presence.

Justice Bandial said the C-Category bank guarantee was submitted at the signing of contract. He asked why did the KP government deal with C-Category bank guarantees?

The court disposed of the bail plea over withdrawal of the petition.

SC announce verdict in postman’s embezzlement case: The Supreme Court on Monday announced its verdict in an embezzlement case pertaining to the disbursement of pension to a widow.

A two-member bench of SC, comprising Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, reversed the decision of service tribunal which had turned departmental decision of dismissal from service, to forced retirement.

Postman Zafarullah had allegedly embezzled Rs 1,10,000 while disbursing pension to a widow. The accused confessed to his crime during investigation.

The department had already dismissed Zafarullah from the services after proving charges against which the accused filed a plea in services tribunal.

The services tribunal reversed the dismissal decision into forced retirement.

The SC restored departmental decision and halted implementation of services tribunal decision.