The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday stayed the proceedings of Federal Ombudsperson Islamabad, Ms Yasim Abbasi for having no lawful territorial jurisdiction in Punjab.
Justice Shamas Mahmood Mirza issued the order on a writ petition filed by Saqib Rasheed, Divisional Head Centralized Operations Human Resource Management Group MCB Bank, MCB House Lahore.
Amna Tahir, an officer of MCB had lodged a complaint against the petitioner with Federal Ombudsperson over harassment of women at workplace and consequently proceedings were initiated against Saqib Rasheed.
Pervaiz Mir, the counsel for the petitioner argued that office of the provincial ombudsperson (protection against harassment of women at workplace) was established in Punjab at Lahore in 2012 which was functional since long hence jurisdiction of the Punjab was withdrawn from the domain of Federal Ombudsperson. It was further argued that complaint filed by the respondent Amna Tahir can’t proceed as the alleged incident of harassment occurred in Lahore and quoted the judgment reported as Salim Javed Vs Federal Ombudsman PLD 2016 Lahore 433.
After hearing the detailed arguments advanced by Pervaiz Mir, the court stayed the proceeding and issued notices to come on August 8.
