LHC overrules objection to disqualification plea

Petitioner says PML-N’s Mazhar Hayat’s BA degree is fake.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Tuesday overruled the registrar office’s objection to a writ petition seeking the disqualification of Rao Mazhar Hayat of the PML-Nawaz, who was elected to the National Assembly from NA-138 of Kasur in the 2008 general elections.

The LHC registrar’s office had objected that the petition was not maintainable as the petitioner was not an aggrieved person.

When the case came up before Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Tuesday, he overruled the objection and directed the office to fix the plea before an appropriate bench.

Naseer Ahmad, a Kasur voter, filed the petition through Advocate Dr Ehsaanul Haq Khan.

He contended that the Higher Education Commission had found Hayat’s BA degree to be fake.

He submitted that at the time of the 2008 elections, candidates were required to have a BA degree and so Hayat should be disqualified.

Khan told the court that three other petitions seeking Hayat’s disqualification were already pending before the LHC.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2012.