Arguments sought on LHC principal seat jurisdiction

LAHORE

A larger bench of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday held its first hearing on a question relating to jurisdiction of its principal seat and three regional benches at Rawalpindi, Multan and Bahawalpur. 

Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah headed the seven-member larger bench with Justice Sardar Shamim Ahmad, Justice Anwarul Haq, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Shahid Karim and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin. 

Supreme Court Bar Association President Barrister Syed Ali Zafar assisted the bench as amicus curie. He was of the view the three permanent benches of the high court were established under Article 198 of the Constitution but it did not put any bar on citizens of Punjab province to directly approach the principal seat of the court for justice. He further said the Supreme Court in its 1995 decision also ruled that any citizen residing in the territorial jurisdiction of the LHC regional benches could file a case directly before its principal seat as per his convenience. 

Attorney General of Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf and Advocate General Punjab Shakilur Rehman Khan also assisted the bench on the matter. They supported the opinion of Mr Ali Zafar and said every citizen of the province should be free to approach the court at its principal seat. 

Former president of SCBA Hamid Khan sought time from the bench to extend his assistance on the question. The bench adjourned hearing till August 1 and sought more arguments from the amicus curies. 

jails: The Lahore High Court has directed the Punjab government to complete finishing work of five under-construction jails in the province within two months. 

Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan also constituted a committee to ensure that the development work being conducted for the jails in Hafizabad, Narowal, Shujabad, Rajanpur and Khanewal was completed within the deadline. 

Advocate General of Punjab Shakilur Rehman would head the committee with DIG (Prisons), additional secretaries of home, communication & works, planning & development and finance departments as its members. Advocate Syed Moazzam Ali Shah, counsel of petitioner in the case, would also be a member of the committee.

Earlier, the judge expressed dissatisfaction over a report submitted by the AGP; however, reluctantly accepted it following an undertaking given by the law officer that all the departments concerned were sensitised and the matter was under the purview of the chief executive of the province. The AGP submitted that no further delay would take place in the deadline. 

Justice Khan observed that contempt proceedings would be initiated against officials of electricity distribution companies concerned if electricity connections were not granted to Hafizabad and Rajanpur jails by next hearing. The judge adjourned hearing till October 18.

A civil society member, Rida Qazi, had filed the petition for treatment of prisoners according to Pakistan Prisoners Code (Jail Manual) and construction of new jails in the province.

development schemes: The Punjab government approved four development schemes of various sectors with an estimated cost of Rs6.961 billion.

The schemes were approved in the 5th meeting of Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) of current fiscal year 2016-17.

Provincial Secretary P&D Iftikhar Ali Sahoo, Members of the Planning and Development Board, provincial secretaries concerned and other senior representatives of the relevant provincial departments also attended the meeting. 

According to spokesman for P&DD, the approved development scheme included: Augmentation / Improvement of Disposal Stations Multan Phase-I at the cost of Rs591.000 million, Tribal Area Development Project (revised) at the cost of Rs5.790 billion, third party assessment and validation of Khadam-e-Punjab Rural Roads Programme (KPRRP-Phase-III) (Rehabilitation and Construction of (Rural) Roads in nine divisions of Punjab)(PC-II) at the cost of Rs127.593 million and rehabilitation of road from Hafizabad (Raja Chowk) to Khanpur (Jalalpur Qadirabad Road) via Kolo Tara, District Hafizabad at the cost of Rs452.977 million.