ISLAMABAD, Jan 28 (APP):The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday restrained the Punjab government from auctioning the house of former finance minister Ishaq Dar and issued a stay order at the plea of Dar’s wife.
The plea filed by Tabassum Dar heard by a two-member bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Lubna Saleem Pervaiz. The court suspended the accountability court’s November 7, 2019 verdict in which it rejected the plea of Dar’s wife for restraining NAB from auctioning her house.
The petitioner’s counsel Qazi Misbah pleaded the court that the house at Lahore Gulberg was gifted by Ishaq Dar to her wife in 1989 as ‘Haq Mehar’.
The counsel pleaded that NAB has seized the house and handed over its custody to Punjab government for auctioning and prayed the court that the house was the property of Dar’s wife that cannot be auctioned by declaring it Ishaq Dar’s assets.
The NAB prosecutor argued that the house cannot be handed over to Dar’s wife and opposed her claim that it was a gift to her.
He pleaded that Tabassum Dar has no evidence of gift deed or any other material which could prove that the house a gift. It was purchased by Dar in 1988 and the land department’s record showed that Dar was still owner of the property.
The court after listening to the arguments restrained the auction of the house till the decision of petition and issued notice to NAB to submit a complete response before next date of hearing. Later the court adjourned the hearing till February 13.
