Daily Times

A five-member bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday adjourned the hearing of intra-court appeals challenging an order of a single bench for oath-taking of Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz, till June 15.

The bench headed by Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan heard the appeals filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPAs including Sabtain Khan and others. Advocate Usman Mansoor on behalf of Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz advanced arguments, during the proceedings, and submitted that the governor did not fulfill his responsibilities by not administering oath to the elected chief minister. He submitted that the governor did not have powers to examine or judge the legal status of the election of chief minister.

At this, the bench questioned the counsel about the status of chief minister if the votes of the dissident law makers were not counted as per recent interpretation of Article 63-A by the Supreme Court.

To which, the counsel submitted that the detailed verdict of the judgement was still awaited, whereas the judgement could not be implemented retrospectively. To another bench query, he submitted that the governor was bound to administer an oath to the chief minister.

Advocate Usman Mansoor was still on his legs when the bench adjourned further hearing till June 15. The bench directed the counsel to complete his arguments on the next date of hearing.