Court Diaries: LHC seeks replies on local polls delay

Rizwan Gill, the petitioner, said the formation of local government institutions was a constitutional requirement that the government had been violating by not holding the elections.

The federal government told the LHC on Thursday that Rs30.7 million was spent on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s New York visit.

A deputy attorney-general also told the court that there was a special fund to finance the prime minister’s foreign visits. The official told the court that the parliament had sanctioned the fund’s constitution. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah had earlier warned the government to submit details of the incurred expense or risk being fined. Judge Shah adjourned the hearing after saying that the court would now determine whether it had the jurisdiction to deal with the matter.

Justice Shahzada Mazhar dismissed a petition against the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB’s) Constitution and fined one of the petitioners Rs100,000. Tariq and Haseebullah had filed the petition. The petitioners’ counsel had earlier questioned various sections of the board’s constitution and told the court that the new constitution had empowered the body to delineate constituencies. They alleged that the body had frequently misused its powers.

A division bench of the LHC issued notices to the prosecutor-general on an appeal of Shahid Nazeer alias Gullu Butt challenging his conviction for being involved in the June 17 Model Town violence.

The counsel for the petitioner told the court that a trial court had sentenced Butt to a lengthy term without taking crucial facts into account. He requested the court to immediately suspend his conviction.

The bench observed that the timing for the application was not opportune as an application against the conviction was being heard.

The LHC directed the government to take no illegal action against law-abiding political activists. Scores of petitions had been filed by various petitioners including PTI Punjab president Ejaz Chaudhry against an alleged police crackdown on party activists. The petitioners alleged police had been harassing PTI workers ahead of the party’s November 30 rally. They said some activists had been detained while others were being intimidated. A government official denied the allegations.

Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on Thursday ordered Provincial Assembly Deputy Speaker Sardar Sher Ali Gorchani to abstain from using 10,000 acres of land owned by the Forestry Department in Rajanpur for any purpose. Sardar Ali Reza of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), the petitioner, had accused Gorchani of squatting over the land. Judge Shah sough a reply from the Revenue Department in this regard. The petitioner’s counsel said the deputy speakers had gained possession of the land with the assistance of revenue officials. He said he had also cleared part of the land for cultivation. The counsel asked the court to recover possession of the land from Gorchani. Judge Shah directed the department to file a reply in two weeks and ordered the deputy speaker to refrain from using the land for any purpose.

A full bench of the LHC disposed of a petition seeking the registration of a high-treason case against Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rasheed.

The court took the action after a Law Department official told the court that a case had been registered against Rasheed.