LAHORE
An additional district and sessions court on Wednesday disposed of a petition seeking release of a man arrested by railway police for hurling a shoe at Awami Muslim League Chairman Sheikh Rashid at Lahore Railway Station on March 5.
Petitioner Malik Munsif filed a habeas corpus petition contending that the railway police had kept Faqir Muhammad in illegal detention as no case was registered against him. He said the police could not any citizen in custody for more than 24 hours without registration of an FIR. The lawyer requested the court to get the man recovered from the ‘illegal’ custody of police and set him free.
A railway police official told the court that Faqir Muhammad was released as no complaint had been lodged by Sheikh Rashid. At this, the court disposed of the petition.
Faqir Muhammad had hurled a shoe at Sheikh Rashid when he had arrived at Lahore Railway Station to watch PSL final at Qaddafi Stadium.
CSS quota: The Lahore High Court chief justice on Wednesday sought arguments on maintainability of a petition challenging the quota reserved for provinces for appointment in service of Pakistan through Central Superior Service (CSS).
Several candidates of CSS, including Hassan Shah, had filed a petition pleading that a quota was allocated for the provinces under Article 47 of the constitution for a period of 40 years. However, they said, the quota was still intact despite the expiry of the 40-year limit in 2013. The petitioners stated that eligible candidates had been subjected to discrimination in the name of the reserved quota for the provinces. They prayed to the court to set aside the quota of the provinces. Earlier, reports were submitted before the court on behalf of Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan governments. All the three provinces challenged the jurisdiction of the high court to hear a case regarding allocation of quota for other provinces. They said the Supreme Court had the jurisdiction to hear such matter.
Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah adjourned the hearing till March 9 and sought arguments on the maintainability of the petition before the LHC.
ECP: The Lahore High Court Wednesday sought a reply from Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in a petition challenging eligibility of PML-N MPA Abdul Mannan.
Tehseen, a voter from Narowal district, had filed the petition and submitted that respondent MPA concealed the facts from the Election Commission. He alleged that he did not show his assets to the authorities concerned and by doing so he had violated Article 62 and Article 63 of the Constitution. The petitioner also alleged that Abdul Mannan had two CNICs which showed difference in his date of birth. Such persons cannot hold public office, he pleaded. He prayed that respondent MPA be declared ineligible to hold a public office. After hearing initial arguments of the petitioner’s counsel, Justice Shahid Waheed of the LHC sought reply from the ECP.