Representational image. PHOTO: REUTERS
A single-bench presided over by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah resumed hearing a plea filed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
Previously the bench had appointed lawyers Raza Rabbani, Abid Hassan Manto, Makhdoom Ali Khan, and Babar Awan as amicus curiae and directed them to submit a written response in the matter. While Awan and Manto submitted a written response, the high court awaits Khan and Rabbani’s reply.
In the last hearing, Justice Minallah questioned the circumstances that made Imran Khan’s government to bypass the Parliament by promulgating the ordinance.
The hearing was adjourned till March 24.
Separately, Justice Minallah also heard the federation’s intra-court appeal against IHC order restoring the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).
One of the ordinances promulgated by President Dr Arif Alvi led to the formation of a new body – Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) – thereby eliminating PMDC.
The PMC Ordinance was among those 11 presidential ordinances, which the government got passed in the form of bills from the National Assembly in a controversial manner amid ruckus by opposition members on November 7. The new body was declared illegal by the IHC in a set of petitions challenging the PTI government’s decision.
In today’s hearing, Advocate Zainab Janjua lamented that the future of PMDC staff remained in limbo. To which, Additional Attorney General Mahmood Khokhar said his wife, who is also a member of the council, was facing delays as well.
Observing the irony, Justice Minallah remarked that the additional attorney general should then prioritise resolving the issue.
The bench adjourned hearing till March 24.
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