Plea against political assistants dismissed

LHC judge declares petition not maintainable

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Faisal Zaman Khan has dismissed as not maintainable a petition challenging the appointment of political assistants to Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

The petitioner, Muhammad Shehzad, had sought to get the appointments declared illegal with directions to restrain the assistants from doing their official work till the decision in the case.

He had made respondents the chief secretary, additional chief secretary, law secretary and others.

The court asked the petitioner's counsel how the petition was maintainable. The counsel contended that no law had been made regarding the appointments and it was a case of public interest.

Justice Faisal Zaman remarked that if it was a matter of public interest then there should have been relevant material and details in the petition and the relevant forum should be approached regarding the absence of a law on the subject.

The petitioner had contended that the respondents had appointed more than 30 political assistants and honorary political assistants although no such post had been defined under any law.

He stated that he had submitted an application against the use of government vehicles by the assistants.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2022.