Local government: Petition against Hassaan dismissed

The petitioner had challenged his eligibility for the elected office

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday dismissed a petition challenging Khawaja Ahmed Hassaan’s election as UC-107 chairman in the local government elections.

The court observed that the petitioner had not raised the objection against the respondent at the time of scrutiny of his nomination papers. Therefore, the verdict said, he had no right to raise the objection at a later stage.

Earlier, the petitioner had filed an application, seeking withdrawal of the petition. However, the court had refused the request. Justice Shahid Karim of the LHC had reserved judgment in the main petition.

On behalf of the petitioner, Advocate Sheraz Zaka had argued that Hassaan had held the office of the Lahore Development Authority vice chairman and the Lahore Waste Management Company director.

He said that under Section 27 of the Local Government Act 2013, a person in the service of a statutory body controlled by a provincial government was not eligible to contest a local government election before the lapse of two years. He said the returning officer had accepted Hassaan’s nomination papers without deciding the objection.

Advocate Rai Shahid Saleem Khan, Hassaan’s counsel, told the court that the objection was not raised before the returning officer during scrutiny of the nomination papers. He also said that the petition was not maintainable as the petitioner was not a voter in the constituency. “He has no locus standi to file the petition. His appeal against acceptance of the nomination papers was also dismissed for not being maintainable,” he said.

He said his client had held no office of profit and the offices mentioned by the petitioner were honorary.

A deputy attorney general said that the returning officer was bound under the rules to hold summary proceedings on the objections raised against any candidate. The PML-N has indicated Hassaan is going to be its candidate for Lahore mayor.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2015.