LHC upholds sacking of judge over rigging

Says judge pleaded for forgiveness in name of God from complainant

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) has upheld the decision to sack a civil judge, who while acting as a returning officer (RO) during a local government election, facilitated rigging.

A three-member bench of LHC, led by Justice Sajid Mahmood Sethi, unveiled its written order on an appeal filed by the former judge, Sheikh Ali Jafar.

Sheikh Ali Jafar was earlier appointed as the RO for a Union Council election in Shahkot Tehsil of Punjab.

In that election, candidate Asghar Ali Asghar was the actual winner, but the civil judge declared Maqbool Ahmed Javed as the winner. Asghar then filed a complaint with the DRO.

On the basis of a letter from the DRO, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ordered a rechecking of results. A report was sent to the ECP, after which a formal complaint was registered.

The LHC registrar dismissed Jafar in March 2006.

The Service Tribunal suspended the dismissal order in October 2008, and the higher judiciary upheld the tribunal's ruling, while stating that misconduct could not be proven without a formal inquiry.

However, after an inquiry, the relevant authority again dismissed the civil judge from service in June 2015. The judge filed a departmental appeal, which was dismissed in September 2015. He later challenged the order of the LHC.

The verdict said election results were altered a month after the original results were issued.

The number of votes of the winning candidate was reduced at various polling stations and votes of the candidate were redistributed among losing candidates. According to a witness, when the inquiry began, the civil judge pleaded for forgiveness in the name of God from the complainant.

The DRO testified that the electoral record was tampered with. The tribunal had to decide whether the civil judge had the authority to alter a declared election result—this was one of the key questions.