Daily Times

Lahore High Court Justice Shujaat Ali Khan has returned all petitions challenging Hamza Shehbaz’s election as Punjab chief minister to the LHC chief justice.

On Monday, LHC Justice Shujaat Ali Khan heard a series of petitions seeking to overturn Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz’s election.

During the hearing, Azhar Siddique Advocate argued that the case was almost finished in the court of Chief Justice Bhatti when it was transferred to this court.

Justice Shujaat Ali noted that no order regarding the transfer of the files was available. As a result, the judge remanded petitions filed by Tehreek-i-Insaf, Pervaiz Elahi, Munir Ahmad, and others to Lahore High Court Chief Justice Ameer Bhatti.

Chief Justice Bhatti of the LHC was hearing petitions filed against Hamza Shehbaz. The petitioners contended that, as a result of the Supreme Court’s interpretation of Article 63-A, Chief Minister Hamza had lost his constitutional right to remain in power and asked the court to prevent him from remaining in office because he had lost the majority in the provincial assembly.

It was requested that the court declare all measures and actions taken by the incumbent chief minister to be “illegal and unconstitutional.”

During the case’s hearing on May 30, Chief Justice Bhatti stated that the Supreme Court’s short order stated that votes of dissident members would not be counted if voting was still going on.

“If we apply for this order on past cases then it means that all decisions will be reversed,” CJ Bhatti remarked.

Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz submitted his 16-page reply to the court, in which he insisted that his election was conducted in accordance with the country’s rules and constitution.

He held that the election for chief minister took place prior to the Supreme Court’s interpretation of Article 63-A and that the interpretation had no bearing on the election.

He went on to say that the former governor’s investigation into the election was illegal and that the Punjab Assembly secretary, too, lacked jurisdiction to investigate the election.

After imposing a fine on the petitioners, Hamza requested that the court dismiss the petitions against his election.