LAHORE – The appointment of Latif Khosa as the Punjab governor has been challenged in the Lahore High Court (LHC), with the petitioner questioning his eligibility for the office on basis of serious corruption charges against him.
The petition was fixed before Justice Umar Atta Bandyal for hearing on Wednesday and the judge admitted it for regular hearing after listening to the arguments of the petitioner’s lawyer. The judge summoned Abdul Qadus, president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, the deputy attorney general and the Punjab additional advocate general for assistance on the next hearing on January 19.
Petitioner Nawaz Cheema submitted that Khosa was removed from the office of attorney general following corruption charges against him and the case in this regard was pending before the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), therefore under articles 62 and 63 of the constitution, Khosa was not eligible to be appointed governor. The petitioner asked the court to declare his appointment unconstitutional and illegal.
The petitioner submitted that an advice for Khosa’s appointment as the Punjab governor was forwarded to the president on January 10, saying the recommendation was illegal, as the Lahore High court had held Khosa involved in professional misconduct in two cases and directed the subordinate judiciary of Punjab not to take notice of any order or document referred by him.
The petitioner added that according to the constitution, a person could not be appointed a governor unless he was qualified to become member of the National Assembly. “The respondent is not qualified to be elected as member of National Assembly per articles 62 and 63, hence, he is not eligible for appointment as governor,” he maintained. The petitioner added that the respondent was removed from office of the attorney general on corruption charges on the direction of Supreme Court.
