SC bars PHC from hearing Workers Welfare Board plea

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday restrained bench No I of Peshawar High Court from hearing a plea of Workers Welfare Board of KP seeking constitution of a larger bench.

A two-member bench of the apex court comprising Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan heard the case.

During the course of proceedings, the CJP said that the Bench No 1 of PHC could not hear the petition of the Welfare Board. The court also summoned Registrar PHC to appear before it on the next date of hearing after issuing notice to Attorney General and the Advocate General Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP).

During the hearing, Khwaja Azhar Rasheed, counsel for Workers Welfare Board said that a case was pending in the bench No 1 of learned Peshawar High Court. He submitted that he had pleaded for formation of a larger bench to hear his petition, which was rejected.

The counsel requested the court to issue directives for deciding the matter on merit. The CJP inquired as to whether the PHC was ignoring the verdict of Supreme Court. The counsel, however, replied that only bench No 1 headed by PHC chief justice was ignoring the apex court decision.

Meanwhile, the court adjourned the hearing for a week and summoned Registrar of Peshawar High Court.