Presidential approval: Appellate tribunals for by-polls notified

Appeals against acceptance of nomination papers must be filed by July 22.

ISLAMABAD:

The government on Monday notified appellate tribunals that will hear appeals against decisions of the returning officers for by-elections next month. According to an official handout, President Asif Ali Zardari gave approval to the tribunals comprising judges of the respective high courts.

By-elections in over three dozen National and provincial Assembly constituencies will be held on August 22 for which the process of nominations is already under way. Most of the seats are vacated by members who were elected from more than one constituency in the May 11 general elections. On some seats elections were not held due to death of a contesting candidate.

According to the schedule for by-elections, appeals, if any, against rejection or acceptance of the nomination papers will be filed by July 22 and such appeals are required to be disposed of by the tribunals by July 29.

Punjab

An appellate tribunal comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Muhammad Farrukh Irfan Khan of Lahore High Court (LHC) will be hearing appeals if any about NA-83 Faisalabad-IX, NA-103 Hafizabad-II, NA-129 Lahore-XII, PP-51 Faisalabad-I,  PP-118 M. B. Din-III, PP-123 Sialkot-III,  PP-142 Lahore-VI, PP-150 Lahore-XI,  PP-161 Lahore-XXV & PP-193 Okara-IX.

A bench comprising Justice Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi and Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan of Multan bench of LHC will deal with the appeals about NA-177 Muzaffargarh-II, PP-210 Lodhran-IV, PP 217 Khanewal-VI, PP-243 D. G. Khan-IV, PP-247 Rajanpur-I & PP-254 Muzaffargarh-I.

Another bench comprising Justice Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Ibad-ur-Rehman Lodhi of Rawalpindi bench of LHC would be hearing appeals about NA-48 Islamabad-I, NA-68 Sargodha-V, NA-71 Mianwali-I and PP-6 Rawalpindi-VI. While Justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim Khan and Justice Shezada Mazhar of the Bawalpur bench of the LHC will be hearing appeals regarding PP-289 R. Y. Khan-V and PP-292 R. Y. Khan-VIII.

Sindh

Justice Faisal Arbab, Justice Ghulam Sarwar Korai and Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto of the Sindh High Court will be hearing appeals regarding NA-235 Sanghar-II, NA-237 Thatta-I, NA-254 Karachi-XVI, PS-12 Shikarpur-II, PS-64 Mirpurkhas-I, PS-95 Karachi-VII and PS-103 Karachi-XV

K-P

Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Qaiser Rashid of the Peshawar High Court will be hearing appeals regarding NA-1 Peshawar-I, NA-5 Noshera-I, NA-13 Swabi-II, PK-23 Mardan-I, PK-27 Mardan-V and PK-42 Hangu-I.

Justice Rooh-ul-Amin Khan and Justice Syed Afsar Shah of the Bannu bench of PHC have been designated as appellate tribunals for NA-27 Lakki Marwat and  Pak-70 Bannu-I.

Similarly Justice Abdul Latif Khan and Justice Lal Jan Khattak of PHC will be dealing appeals about NA-25 D.I.Khan-cum-Tank.

Balochistan

Justice Muhammad Noor Meskanzai, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar of the Balochistan High Court have been designated as Tribunals for NA-262 Killa Abdullah, PB-29 Nasirabad-II, PB-32 Kachhi-III and PB-44 Lasbela-I.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2013.