LAHORE: A three-member bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday adjourned the hearing of an Intra-Court Appeal (ICA) filed by the Punjab government against LHC single bench orders for making the Model Town inquiry report public till November 21.
Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh headed the full bench with Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmad.
During the hearing, Barrister Ali Zafar – counsel of the heirs of the victims of the Model Town incident – continued his arguments and pleaded with the bench to set aside the government’s appeal and issue directions for the release of the report.
It is pertinent to mention here that Punjab government’s counsel Khawaja Haris had already completed his arguments. He said that the respondents (heirs of the Model Town incident victims) had not approached the former single bench with clean hands, as they had not applied for the provision of the Model Town inquiry report to the concerned authorities previously.
He said that the heirs of the Model Town incident victims had failed to disclose that identical petitions were being heard by a full bench. He questioned how a single bench could decide a petition when identical petitions were being heard by a full bench. He also questioned the former single bench court orders of the lack of issuance of a notice under Article 27-A to the advocate general for assistance whereas it was a mandatory step for hearing such matter.
On September 21, the former single bench comprising Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi had ordered the Punjab home secretary to make the Model Town report public while allowing a petition filed by heirs of Model Town incident victims.