Daily Times

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the government to immediately fill posts lying vacant in the accountability courts.

A two-member SC bench comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah issued these directions while hearing a petitioner filed by the government against the Lahore High Court (LHC) order letting Leader of the Opposition and President PML-N Shahbaz Sharif to travel abroad.

LHC had granted one-time permission to former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif to go abroad on medical grounds, after which the government moved the Supreme Court to have the decision declared null and void.

During the course of proceedings, the Registrar Lahore High Court (LHC) submitted the record of the case before the bench. He informed that the case was heard a day after the reservations pertaining to Shahbaz Sharif’s leaving the country plea were dismissed.

Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan asked, Was Shahbaz Sharif’s case heard as per the usual system or through a special process?

The registrar replied that the high court decided to hear the government’s reservations and Sharif’s petition on the same day.

He said the reservations were raised on Friday at 9:30 am and proceedings into the case began at 11:00 am the same day.

Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan observed that the government’s law officer was provided only 30 minutes to seek instructions.

He asked how many hearings were held, in the past one year, on Fridays at 12:00 noon?

He said that the LHC had not even inquired as to which list Sharif’s name had been included to. He asked in how many other cases was one-sided relief provided?

He also asked could such a general order be issued as the Lahore High Court did?

The federal government during the hearing withdrew its petition against the Lahore High Court’s decision allowing Shahbaz Sharif to leave abroad.

The counsel for Shahbaz Sharif said that his client would not pursue contempt of court proceedings against institutions for not letting him go abroad.