Exercise of judicial powers by officers: LHC accepts CS apology

LAHORE:The Lahore High Court on Tuesday accepted an unconditional apology tendered by Punjab Chief Secretary Jawad Rafiq in a case against exercise of judicial powers by the executive officers in defiance of a stay order.

The chief secretary along with his private counsel Dr Khalid Ranjha and other senior bureaucrats appeared before the court of Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan. The chief justice accepted the unconditional apology of the chief secretary and withdrew the show cause notice earlier issued to him.

The CJ, however, allowed time to Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Momin Agha, Special Secretary (Home) Muhammad Iqbal and Deputy Secretary (judicial) Imran Munir to submit their replies to the show cause notices for contempt proceedings.

During the hearing, Chief Justice Khan observed that the executive officers continued to use judicial powers despite the notification was suspended by the court. He regretted there had been negligence in conveying the court decision to the relevant officers.

The chief justice regretted that on the one hand a foreign national, on arrival in Pakistan, was expected to have knowledge of the law while on the other the court was being persuaded to believe that the bureaucracy was unaware of the law. The CJ adjourned hearing for a week and observed that the matter would be decided after reviewing the explanations to be submitted by the officers.

Tanvir Abdullah had filed the petition through Barrister Momin Malik pleading that under the Constitution and prevalent law executive and judiciary were two separate entities and they couldn't interfere into each other's affairs. However, the Punjab government on 17 June granted powers of magistrate first class to commissioner and deputy commissioners in violation of law. The counsel argued that impugned notification was ultra vires of article 2 & 9 of the Constitution as well as of section 14-A of Code of Criminal Procedure-1898.

He said as per judgments of the superior courts, the executive couldn't exercise judicial powers. Punjab reply sought on plea against transfer of Fesco CEO, CE

Hearing another case, the chief justice sought a reply from the Punjab government on a petition challenging transfers of Faisalabad Electric Supply Company’s (Fesco) chief executive officer Shafiqur Rehman and its chief engineer Umar Lodhi allegedly on political influence. The petitioner alleged that both officers were transferred at the behest of a local MPA. Chief Justice expressed concern and observed how an officer could serve honestly with political intervention. The CJ sought replies from the respondents by Wednesday (today).