Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry on Monday rejected the application moved by the Punjab government for transferring the hearing of 87 assistant district public prosecutors’ case to another LHC judge.
The sacked prosecutors were appointed by the former chief minister Pervaiz Elahi on a one-year contract and were terminated by the Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) government which is now fighting against their possible restoration by the court. Rejecting the application, the CJ said the concerned court would hear the matter and the judge would not be changed at the last stages of the case. The Punjab government, through the Punjab prosecution secretary, had filed an application against Justice Muhammad Khalid Mehmood Khan for not doing his job well and requested the court to replace him with a senior judge. Justice Khalid Mehmood on July 27 had reserved his verdict on the petition by 87 assistant district public prosecutors seeking regularisation of their services and it was probable that the court would give relief to the sacked prosecutors. The petitioners submitted that former chief minister Pervaiz Elahi had appointed 750 assistant district public prosecutors on a one-year contract but the PML-N Punjab government terminated all of them.
Separately, Justice Muhammad Khalid Mehmood Khan of the Lahore High Court on Monday granted time till August 15 to law officers of the federal and provincial governments to file reply on the petition against hoarding, black marketing and raising prices of food items.