Advocate Faizan Nazir: Meet the lawyer who secured bail for former Chairman State Co-operative Bank accused in Rs 300 crore scam

SRINAGAR: A young lawyer Faizan Nazir presently practicing in several courts in Delhi including Delhi High Court and as well as Jammu and Kashmir High Court has emerged as a beacon of hope for dozens of litigants facing corruption and criminal charges and struggling in commercial cases.

Having graduated from the Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, Faizan as an advocate has been a ray of hope for several of his clients and one such glaring example is the bail granted to former Chairman J&K State Co-operative Bank, Muhammad Shafi Dar, by the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir on 15 December 2020. Dar and other co-accused were denied bail several times by the Anti-Corruption Court, Srinagar as well as by the  High Court in prior instances.

Muhammad Shafi Dar, former Chairman J&K State Co-operative Bank was facing allegations of involvement in a multi-crore state cooperative Bank scam and was lodged in Central Jail since June 2020. Though Dar's prior pleas were filed by senior lawyers of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, it was only Faizan Nazir who successfully contested his bail plea, and the  Jammu and Kashmir High Court, on 15 December, granted bail to Dar in the alleged Rs.300 crore-J&K State Co-operative Bank land scam.

Bashir Ahmad Dar, the Senior Additional Advocate General appeared on behalf of the J&K Government in this case. Pertinently, the other co-accused, Hilal Ahmad Mir, who was the chairman of the alleged non-existent cooperative society, was denied bail by the High Court on 19 October 2020, prior to the filing of the supplementary charge sheet.

A single-judge bench comprising Justice Sindhu Sharma noted that the money taken from the bank was paid to the owners of the land, who executed a power of attorney in favour of the Chairman of the Jhelum Co-operative Society and said that the investigation in the matter was complete in respect of Mr. Dar, including the filing of the charge sheet and supplementary charge sheet, and accordingly, the custody of Dar was not required and his personal liberty was protected.

Having worked on several high profile matters ranging from criminal to civil especially commercial and anti-trust matters, Faizan Nazir has honed his skills before the district Courts and High Court of Delhi. He has successfully appeared in several cases before Delhi High Court securing bail in several serious crimes such as abatement to suicide and dowry deaths.

Expanding his field to civil and commercial litigation including arbitration, Faizan is working on various contemporary matters from the field of Intellectual Property Right, Anti-Trust Laws, Banking/Economic Laws, Constitutional Writs, Service Laws etc. The young lawyer is generating hopes to his petitioners amid hopelessness and has given a major push to the judicial activism both within and outside Jammu and Kashmir. (KNT)