LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz and members of his administration over their failure to submit a response in a case related to his removal from the office.
During the previous hearing in the case on Mary 20, the judge issued notices to Shehbaz, Punjab Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal, Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari, Assembly Secretary Muhammad Khan Bhatti and principal secretary to the governor.
Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti passed the order while hearing a petition filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) for Shehbaz’s removal after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) de-notified 25 lawmakers of the PTI in the Punjab Assembly for voting in favour of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president.
The judge also directed them to submit the fine in the account of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA).
During the hearing, a counsel for the chief minister sought a two-day time for submitting the response. The court admonished him and said he should have submitted the response two days before rather than seeking more time in the case.
Meanwhile, the counsel for PTI said Shehbaz does not have the majority in the House. “The question is not whether he has the majority or not. The question is if the Supreme Court’s decision will be applied to previous cases or not,” the chief justice said.
It is pertinent to mention here that the PTI had filed a petition in the high court to declare the election of Shehbaz as Punjab chief minister null and void.
The petition has been filed by MPA Sibtain Khan and four other lawmakers of the PTI arguing that lawmakers from PTI and PML-Q were forcefully removed from the House during the election.
“The police forcefully barred our lawmakers from voting during the election process,” they said and asked how police were allowed to enter the assembly when private people were refrained from doing so.
