Tribunal barred from hearing petition against CM

Karachi
The Sindh High Court on Tuesday suspended the notification issued by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) regarding the transfer of a petition filed by a candidate of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) against Sindh Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah to Hyderabad election tribunal till further orders.
The interim order came on the petition of PML-N candidate Syed Ghous Ali Shah who challenged transfer of his petition from the election tribunal in Karachi to Hyderabad by the ECP.
He had contested the results of Sindh Assembly constituency PS-29 Khairpur, the seat on which the chief minister was declared to be the winning candidate in May 2013 election.
The petitioner’s counsel, Mohammad Aslam Bhutta, stated that the ECP in violation of orders of the Sindh High Court had ordered to transfer the transfer the application to Hyderabad tribunal without hearing the matter.
He argued that the ECP had extended the tenure of election tribunal in Hyderabad and later transferred the case there on March 3 without first deciding the chief minister’s application for transfer of the case to Hyderabad.
He alleged that presiding officer of Hyderabad election tribunal had close relations with the chief minister and expressed no confidence in its decision. He requested the court to suspend the notification for the transfer of proceedings against the chief minister from Karachi to Hyderabad.
The SHC division bench headed by Justice Munib Akhtar after preliminary hearing of the petition issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan, chief election commissioner and Sindh chief minister for April 7. In the meantime, it suspended the impugned notification regarding the transfer of election proceedings to Hyderabad till further orders.

Plea against nepotism
The Sindh High Court issued notices to the Advocate General, excise and taxation department and others against discrimination in granting cash awards to excise and taxation officers.
Petitioner Mohammad Hussain stated that the excise and taxation departments had gotten the list of people approved to whom cash award were to be distributed and had left out the honest and efficient officers.
He submitted that cash rewards were being given to influential and the blue-eyed officers, instead of those who had performed better and had also recovered drugs and contraband materials.