LHC asks ECP to decide MNA’s fake degreecase in one month

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to decide within a month an application seeking disqualification of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) MNA Rana Afzal Hussain for allegedly possessing fake degree.

Rana Afzal Hussain won the National Assembly seat from NA-166 on the ticket of the PML-N in the general election 2013. Rana Aftab, the political rival of the respondent, filed a petition, alleging that Rana Afzal got degrees from Balochistan University and the University of Punjab at the same time. He claimed that his both degrees had been declared bogus, but he was holding the public office. The petitioner said that a fake degree-holder could not contest elections nor he could hold any public office. He asked the court to declare him disqualified for contesting election of the National Assembly due to his fake degrees. After hearing arguments of the petitioner’s counsel, Justice Ayesha A Malik ordered the ECP to decide the representation of the petitioner within a period of one month.

Pension case: Justice Muhammad Farrukh Irfan Khan of the Lahore High Court on Monday expressed dismay over non-payment of pension to retired employees of Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda). “Why the retired officials are teased through non-payment of pension?” Justice Khan observed while hearing the petition, moved by Wapda’s former engineer Tahir Nawaz Kahlun. The petitioner’s counsel said that the pension was not being paid, though he was cleared in a departmental inquiry. Advocate Rabbiya Bajwa pointed out that pension was the basic right of the retired officials which could not be denied to them. She also quoted various judgments of the Supreme Court and argued that one could not be deprived of his pension merely on the basis of allegations. After hearing both sides, Justice Khan issued notices to both sides and sought reply