DAWN reported that Justice Athar Minallah expressed his concerns while hearing a case in which NAB investigation officer (IO) had submitted a report, mentioning the names of some IHC judges as well as other judicial officers, who had allegedly been given out-of-turn allotment of government accommodations.
Justice Minallah got angry over inclusion of judges’ names in report prepared by anti-graft body.
The IHC chief justice also got annoyed over the request of the NAB IO to keep the report confidential. He observed that NAB had included the names of judges in the report in a bid to blackmail them.
“You want to blackmail the high court,” remarked the CJ IHC, saying no judge of this court could be blackmailed.
Another judge of the bench, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb said that the court respects the NAB chairman for being a retired judge of the Supreme Court. “But there Is a limit of showing restraint, for us he is a public office holder,” the judge remarked.
The bench referred the matter to the NAB chairman and adjourned the hearing till April 8.