SC rejects Bahria Town's plea to stay auction of properties

The Supreme Court has rejected a request by Bahria Town to stay the auction of its properties as legal troubles for the leading real estate developer continue to mount.

A three-member bench led by Justice Aminuddin Khan heard the petition on Thursday and declined to grant interim relief, saying the court would not issue a stay without hearing the opposing side.

The bench directed Bahria Town to submit all relevant documents, including references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the company and its chairman, Malik Riaz.

The next hearing has been scheduled for August 13, when the court is expected to take up the main petition and related applications.

On Thursday, the NAB held a public auction of six commercial properties linked to the firm, in a bid to recover funds from a court-sanctioned plea bargain reached in 2019.

Also Read: NAB auctions Bahria Town’s marquee for Rs508m; gets bids for two more properties

According to an official statement, the anti-corruption body said that the firm's Rubaish Marquee fetched Rs508 million, Rs20 million above the reserve price.

Two other properties, Corporate Office-I and Corporate Office-II, attracted conditional offers of Rs876 million and Rs881 million respectively. Final approval of these offers, NAB said, is pending review by its competent authority.

However, three properties failed to draw qualifying bids and were left unsold. NAB said that these would be re-auctioned at a later date.