Daily Times

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday served notices to former deputy speaker of the National Assembly Qasim Suri after the registrar’s office submitted its report regarding the delay in fixation of his appeal for hearing against the decision of re-election in his constituency. A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa heard the case.

During the course of proceeding, the CJP inquired about the presence of Mr. Suri at this his lawyer Naeem Bokhari said that the appellant couldn’t be contacted despite repeated attempts. The staff told the bench that the registrar’s office had received the non-compliance report of court notices.

Naeem Bokhari Advocate said that he has seen the report of registrar’s office and has noted some weaknesses in it. He said that the bench has asked three questions from the office about this case. This case has been fixed nine times since it was filed, he said.

The chief justice asked why the case was not fixed for a hearing for a long time. The lawyer said that the case might be delayed due to so many cases related to elections.

The court, however, served notices to Qasim Suri on the report of registrar’s office and adjourned the case till after Eid.

In 2018, the election tribunal ordered re-election in the constituency of Qsim Suri on allegations of alleged rigging. However, Mr. Suri filed an appeal to the apex court and was granted a stay order against the verdict.