PTI govt stopped from acting against mayor for five days

IHC blocks suspension of mayor, seeks response from govt

ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday was restrained from taking action against the federal capital’s mayor, including suspending him until Friday.

This was directed as a single-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, heard a petition filed by the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) Mayor Shiekh Anser Aziz against the Local Government Commission (LGC).

The LGC, formed under the interior ministry and is chaired by former IMC council member Ali Nawaz Awan, had filed a reference against Aziz seeking his suspension for alleged abuse of power and financial irregularities.

During Monday’s hearing, the mayor appeared alongside his lawyer Adil Aziz Qazi. He urged the court to stop the commission’s chairperson Awan, who is also the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Capital Development Authority (CDA) Affairs, from working, contending that the Awan was biased towards him.

Aziz urged the court to bar the government from taking action on the recommendations of the commission calling for his suspension and initiating a probe by a four-member investigation body.

The mayor contended that the LGC chairperson must be an unbiased individual.

Accepting the mayor’s plea, the court stopped the government from implementing the commission’s recommendations to suspend the mayor until the next hearing of the case, while it also issued notices to the secretaries of the interior ministry, LGC and Awan, seeking replies from them on the objections raised by Aziz.

The court then adjourned the hearing until February 21.

Health ministry secretary summoned

A single-member bench of the IHC, comprising Justice Kayani, issued summons to the secretary of the Health Ministry on Monday as it heard a case for contempt of court.

Last week, employees of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) had filed a petition against the health secretary for sealing the council’s building and barring employees from entering it even though the IHC had already restored the council.

The petitioner’s counsel pleaded to the court to suspend the notification issued on February 13 by the government to seal the PMDC building.

Justice Kayani, however, remarked that it can only do so after hearing officials of the health ministry.

The court, however, did offer a reprieve to employees of PMDC. Justice Kayani remarked that even if the court does not suspend this notification, PMDC employees will be considered as ‘restored’. Moreover, he observed that they will receive their salaries as well.

The court then adjourned further proceeding until February 19.

Murder convict acquitted

The Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench on Monday acquitted a murder convict by annulling his life sentence, observing that it had been awarded based on false testimonies in a murder case.

Justice Raja Shahid Mehmood heard the review petition filed by Sikandar Hayat, who had been convicted of killing his cousin within the precincts of the Taman Police station in Chakwal.

The court observed that the life sentence awarded by the lower court was illegitimate as it was pronounced after adjudicating on incorrect facts.

During the hearing, Hayat’s counsel, Raja Ghaneem Abir, argued that the Taman police had arrested his client in April 2015 for allegedly killing his relative Saima Zaman.

Abir asserted that the police did not present any witness in the case, while it claimed that an axe was used as the murder weapon. This, Abir contended, was false.

He continued that the sentence awarded by a lower court was illegal as asymmetries in the case were quite visible. After both sides concluded their arguments, the court annulled the life sentence of the suspect and ordered to release him from the jail.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2020.