Due process: Larger bench for those disqualified

Ali’s counsel informed PHC division bench his client’s sentence had been nullified by the PHC in the fake degree case.

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has ordered a larger bench be constituted to hear the application of a former member of the provincial assembly, after he was disqualified by the election tribunal.

Sardar Ali was barred from contesting the polls after the court served him a three-year imprisonment sentence and imposed a penalty on him for allegedly carrying a fake degree.

Ali’s counsel, Abdul Latif Afridi, informed a PHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Roohul Amin that his client’s sentence had been nullified by the PHC in the fake degree case, adding others had been granted permission to contest the polls.

The bench later ordered the constitution of a larger bench and adjourned the case hearing for April 30.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2013.