The Lahore High Court on Monday found fault with the head of the Anti-Corruption Establishment over a criminal case registered on 13 April 2023, the same day a stay was issued. The matter is a contempt petition from 2023, brought by Muhammad Khan Bhatti, former secretary of the Punjab Assembly. Justice Abher Gul Khan asked the officer who authorised the first information report, and the other officials concerned, to return with detailed written replies.
A first information report, usually called an FIR, is the document that opens a criminal case in Pakistan. A stay is a judge's instruction to hold off while the dispute is heard. Contempt is the court's process for asking whether that instruction was followed. In this petition the two dates match: both the stay and the FIR fall on 13 April 2023.
Why the judge was dissatisfied
Director General Sohail Zafar Chattha attended because the court had directed him to appear, and he placed an initial report on the record. Justice Abher Gul Khan was dissatisfied with the report and with what the government's law officers told her.
From the bench she went through the stay of 13 April 2023 and pressed them on why the FIR carried that same date. She also wanted to know if the stay had been challenged before any higher forum. A law officer set out his sequence. The inquiry, he said, had started on 7 April 2023, and the approval to register the FIR had been given before the stay. On his account, the written court order had not reached the department when the FIR was registered on 13 April 2023.
The establishment examines allegations of corruption against public officials. The judge's focus stayed on procedure: the order of events, and whether the explanation for that order was good enough.
What the court wants next
She treated the director general's report and the law officer's explanation as unsatisfactory. The officer who authorised the FIR, and the other officials tied to the file, have been called to the next hearing with fuller replies in writing. The case stands adjourned for two weeks.
What the court examined on Monday was the timeline and the department's explanation. The law officer spoke about when the inquiry started, when the FIR was approved, and when the written order arrived. That account is the department's position. The Lahore High Court has not accepted it.
Timeline: what has happened so far
- 7 April 2023: A law officer said the inquiry had begun.
- 13 April 2023: The stay order was issued, and Justice Abher Gul Khan read it out on Monday.
- 13 April 2023: The FIR was registered. The department said approval had come earlier and that the written order had not arrived.
- 2023: Muhammad Khan Bhatti filed a contempt petition against the Anti-Corruption Establishment.
- Monday: Sohail Zafar Chattha submitted an initial report. The judge found the explanation unsatisfactory and adjourned the hearing for two weeks.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Lahore High Court ne ACE ke bade afsar ko is liye tanbeeh di ke FIR usi din darj hui jis din stay order jaari hua. Judge ne un ki report theek nahi mani. Judge ne mutalliqa afsaron ko do hafte mein likhit tafseel dene ko kaha hai. Yeh sunwai 2023 wali contempt petition par ho rahi hai jo Punjab Assembly ke sabqa secretary Muhammad Khan Bhatti ne dakhil ki thi.
