Punjab Assembly: Speaker’s appointments challenged

Petitioners asks the court to restrain the PA speaker from making the appointments.

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday adjourned a petition challenging potential appointments to jobs in the Punjab Assembly (PA) by Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal. Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial directed the counsel for the petitioners and government to come up with further arguments on the matter on March 15. Some assembly employees moved the petition, submitting that the speaker was seeking to appoint voters from his constituency to vacancies in violation of merit and various rules. They said the speaker had amended some rules in order to make the appointments. They submitted that the potential appointments had created unrest among the staff, particularly candidates eligible for promotion to the posts that the speaker was seeking to fill. They asked the court to restrain the PA speaker from making the appointments.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2013.