LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) was asked last week to direct the Election Commission to not allocate electoral symbols to the Pakistan Muslims League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).
Intra-party elections
On October 29, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah heard a petition by Advocate Ghohar Nawaz Sindhu submitting that the three parties had not held intra-party elections.
The Political Parties Order 2011’s Section 11 lays down that political parties must hold intra-party elections in accordance with their constitution(s). He requested the court to restrain Nawaz Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman from chairing party meetings.
PAT
The LHC rejected a petition last week seeking record of 40 cases registered against Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Tahirul Qadri.
The petition was fixed before Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah.
The petitioner said that more than 40 had been registered against the PAT chief but he had not appeared before a court. He said the authorities concerned had also not investigated the cases.
MBBS
The LHC set aside the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council’s policy for admission to MBBS, ruling that setting aside quotas based on gender violated a fundamental right protected by the Constitution.
Sadia, Asma Javed and others, candidates for MBBS, had filed the petitions submitting they had secured good marks in the FSc examination but had been refused admission to MBBS. They said the University of Health Sciences had changed its admission policy and 50 per cent seats had been reserved for male candidates.
Maryam Nawaz
The LHC sought a reply on October 30 from Maryam Nawaz by November 5 on a petition challenging her appointment as chairperson of the Prime Minister Youth’s Loan Programme.
PTI leader Zubair Niazi had filed the petition alleging nepotism in the appointment.
Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah observed that the government would have to explain under what law public money was being used for political purposes. The judge also expressed concern over control of public money being given to an individual related to prime minister.
Resignation
The LHC issued a notice to the Provincial Assembly speaker on a petition against alleged delay in acceptance of resignation of Leader of the Opposition Mahmoodur Rasheed.
Petitioner Abdul Rasheed Sindhu said the speaker had no authority to reject or delay the resignation of an assembly member. He said once a member submitted his resignation, it was deemed accepted under Article 64 of the Constitution.
He said Mahmoodur Rasheed had submitted his resignation two months ago. He requested the court to order the speaker to forward the resignation to the Election Commission of Pakistan.
The petitioner said the leader of opposition had betrayed his voters by tendering resignation.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 3rd, 2014.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ