LHC CJ to take up plea against ex-CS’s transfer

LAHORE : Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan will take up today (Monday) a petition challenging transfer of former chief secretary Azam Suleman Khan.

LHC Registrar's office has already put objection to the petition, saying the petitioner was not an aggrieved person and has no locus standi to file instant petition. It said transfer and posting is the policy matter of the government and court can't interfere into it.

The CJ will hear the petition as objection case. Advocate Humayun Faiz Rasool, the petitioner, stated in petition that transfer of chief secretary was unlawful and uncalled for during the crisis of coronavirus pandemic. He said the country was witnessing deadliest pandemic of the history but the federal government in connivance with the Punjab government was only concerned with political postings and transfers. He submitted that the province had lost precious lives to the pandemic during the last few weeks but the government had not learnt any lesson from the history and appeared to have more interest in political point-scoring than fighting the disease seriously. He argued the manner in which Mr Khan had been removed was not only inappropriate but also unlawful in view of the constitutional provisions, statutes and procedure laid down by the Supreme Court.

The lawyer explained that after 18th Amendment, the federal government cannot take decisions without any consultation of the province concerned. In this case, he claimed the federal government had not consulted the provincial government making the transfer of the chief secretary an illegal act.