Arbab Rahim’s petition: Another bench declines to hear the case

Judges say they are already over- burdened with cases.

KARACHI:

A petition filed on behalf of Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim challenging the decision of Sindh Assembly to unseat him was once again referred back to Chief Justice of Sindh High Court for constitution of another bench.

The bench comprising Justices Faisal Arab and Shafi Siddiqui was scheduled to hear the petition on Wednesday but due to shortage of time it could not take it up and instead felt that due to this case the two benches are being disturbed and hearing of dozens of cases was being affected.

The present bench was constituted as Chief Justice, Justice Nadeem Akhtar and another judge of the high court had earlier refused to hear the petition.

Arbab Inayatullah, son of Arbab Ghulam Rahim, had filed the petition through their counsel Rasheed A Razvi. Sindh Advocate General Abul Fattah Malik is representing provincial government and Speaker Sindh assembly.

A specially constituted bench on April 14 while hearing an urgent application for hearing against announcement of schedule for by elections has suspended the schedule as well as the notification by the Speaker of the Sindh Assembly unseating Arbab Rahim till next date of hearing.

The petitioner challenged the resolution passed by the assembly unseating Arbab Rahim for remaining absent from assembly sessions.

The petitioner maintained that as per assembly rules, application for condonation from attending the session was dealt separately for each day and voted in the assembly. The present government kept the applications and then put them all before the house on a single day and, in violation of rules, rejected them to unseat Arbab Rahim. Counsel for petitioner, Rasheed A Razvi, maintained that it was a mala fide act.

He told the court that the government had asked Arbab Rahim to support its candidates in the Senate election and to withdraw candidate of his party. Besides Arbab Rahim’s application for the slot of Opposition leader also irked the ruling PPP which then decided to throw him out of the elected house depriving his voters of representation in the provincial assembly.

The respondents in the case include Secretary Sindh Assembly, Sindh Law Minister and Speaker Sindh Assembly.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2012.