LAHORE – The Lahore High Court on Wednesday expressed displeasure over the delay in submission of reply by federal government to a writ petition seeking disqualification of Rehman Malik as senator on the basis of his removal from service.
Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed remarked that the court will not allow the government to delay the case unnecessarily. On Wednesday, a deputy attorney general requested the court to defer the hearing as establishment division had not forwarded reply. The court rejected plea, requiring DAG to ensure submission of reply by April 26 at any cost.
DAG pointed out that under the constitution the president could not be made party in any case, to which the court said even the president had no right to pass an order that is contrary to the constitution. In the previous hearing the federal government and chairman senate were given the last chance to file replies. Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah are hearing the case. Rehman Malik had already submitted a reply saying there were no legal justifications to hear the case as the president of Pakistan had already converted his removal from service into retirement.
He prayed the court to dismiss the petition. Election commission of Pakistan had also told the court through a written reply that no one had raised any objection at the time of filing Rehman’s nomination papers for senate seat. It was further told to court that ECP acted in accordance with law. Regarding the federal government’s reply, Deputy Attorney General Ilyas Khan said he was assigned the task of pleading the case only couple of days ago after the removal of Naveed Inayat Malik. He sought time to obtain reply from federal government. Pursuant to court’s order, former DAG Naveed Inayat Malik had produced the copy of notification under which Rehman’s removal from services was converted into retirement.
A local citizen Mahfooz Ahmad moved the petition in which he submitted that Rehman Malik was removed from service in Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in 1998 and as such he was not eligible to be elected as a member senate. Petitioner had also challenged the notification, which converted removal of Rehman Malik into retirement pleading that the president had no authority to issue such notification. He requested the court to set aside impugned notification and de-seat the respondent.
PETITION CHALLENGING UNIFORM MEDICAL ENTRY TESTS: In another case, a Lahore High Court division bench sought reply from secretary health by May 3 on a petition challenging the process of medical entry test and existence of University of Health Sciences.
An FSc student Mehvish filed the petition and pleaded through her counsel that admission board of the UHS announced schedule of medical entry test but had changed the old format. She pointed out that previously the students of FSc and O-level were given entrance test papers according to their curriculum whereas now a uniform test had been introduced. She pleaded that the new uniform policy was a discriminatory act based on malafide intention. Besides seeking a court order to declare the new policy null and void, the petitioner also challenged the jurisdiction of UHS to hold entry test saying the establishment of the university was in violation of the constitution.
The bench comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Asad Munir admitted the hearing for regular proceeding and issued notice for May 3.
