• LHC issued notices to Governor of Punjab and ECP
• PTI filed petition to announce date of election in Punjab
• The judge admitted the petition for regular hearing

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday issued notices to the governor of Punjab and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on a petition of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) seeking a direction to the respondents to immediately announce the date of general election in the province since the assembly had been dissolved.

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Jawad Hassan observed that the petitioner had not arrayed the ECP in the list of the respondents.

With permission of the court, Senator Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, the counsel for the PTI, impleaded the ECP as a respondent in the petition.

Resuming his arguments, the counsel stated that the petitioner was seeking interpretation of certain important articles of the Constitution, specifically articles 105 read with 112(1), 224(1), 224(1A), 224(2) and the preamble of the Constitution.

He pointed out that the then chief minister Jan 12 referred the matter to the governor to dissolve the assembly and in terms of article 112(1) of the Constitution, it stood dissolved after 48 hours.

He said the incumbent speaker of the Punjab Assembly formally requested the governor to appoint a date for holding of general election of the assembly to fulfill his constitutional obligation but this had not been acted upon so far. He further pointed out that the ECP also sent a letter to the principal secretary to the governor to give the date of the election but without any progress.

Asked what relief he wanted from the court, PTI secretary general Asad Umar, the petitioner, highlighted the of right of democracy and “political justice” by referring a judgment of the LHC — “Hafeezur Rehman Ch versus Federation of Pakistan etc” (2022 MLD 2006), whereby the court ruled that the basic structure and framework of the Constitution cannot be altered as it was made by the chosen representatives of the country.

Justice Hassan observed that the court would protect the constitutional rights of the people and democracy.

The judge expressed his displeasure over the unpreparedness of a law officer appearing on behalf of the province. “If I can come with full preparations, why not you?” the judge asked an assistant advocate general.

The judge said everyone knew about Monday’s hearing as the news was widely reported by the media two days ago.

Justice Hassan noted that he also got stuck at the Lahore airport due to the public rally of a political party on Saturday.

“But I did my whole research work and found judgments on the matter before reaching the court,” the judge said.

The judge reminded the law officer that he did not like to keep a case pending unnecessarily.

Admitting the petition for regular hearing, Justice Hassan observed that the points raised before the court needed consideration.

The judge directed Deputy Attorney General Nasir Javed Ghuman and Assistant Advocate General Rana Zain, present in court, to seek instructions from the relevant respondents (the ECP and the governor) by Feb 3.

The judge also sought assistance from the attorney general for Pakistan and the advocate general of Punjab saying the case related to interpretation of articles of the Constitution and certain provisions of the laws involving infringement of fundamental rights of the petitioner.

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