Lahore High Court Chief Justice Azmat Saeed on Wednesday issued summons to the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) to assist the court on May 7 in a hearing of a constitutional petition for restraining Yousaf Raza Gillani from performing his duties as prime minister, in the wake of his conviction by the Supreme Court.
The petition has been filed by the Pakistan Tehrek-e-Inqalab through its counsel AK Dogar, contending that PM Gillani should be directed to resign and surrender all privileges that he is enjoying despite his conviction in the contempt of court case.
The petition contends that after conviction by the SC, the PM has ceased to be the prime minister of the country and that he should resign or a resignation should be demanded from him by the speaker of the national assembly.
The petitioner requested the court to pass the orders for the NA speaker to stop the convicted prime minister from performing duties as the PM and to take away the privileges of the office from him.
The petitioner said the PM should be de-notified as an MNA, through proceedings on the reference that should be sent to the election commission immediately.
The court, after hearing the arguments by AK Dogar, issued a notice to the attorney general asking him to the assist the court in the proceedings.
The court has yet to decide the maintainability of the petition as the right to appeal before the SC against the verdict is still available to the convicted PM.
LHC’s drugs tribunal seeks report from home dept: The Defective Drugs inquiry Tribunal comprising Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan of the Lahore High Court issued directions on Wednesday to the Punjab Home Department to submit its report today (Thursday) about the drug scam that killed hundreds of patients in the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC).
Punjab Health Secretary Arif Nadeem appeared before the tribunal on Wednesday after a notice was issued to him.
He was asked to inform the tribunal about the steps taken by the government under the Punjab Healthcare Commission Act of 2010. He sought time to collect the requisite information and submit a report in this regard. An explanation, sought from Health Director General Nisar Ahmad Cheema, was also submitted before the tribunal.
Efroze Chemicals Limited Managing Director Abdullah Feroze and Deputy Managing Director Nadir Khan Feroz also appeared before the tribunal.
Their statements were recorded and they answered questions raised by the tribunal.
The tribunal is probing the matter to ascertain the causes of deaths of the PIC patients who were administered contaminated drugs and to determine if the causes relate to the use of certain drugs and the source of the drugs.
The tribunal will also fix responsibility at each stage and make recommendations to prevent such incidents in the future.
LHC CJ seeks AGP’s help in plea to stop PM from working
