LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday disposed of a petition, filed against the acceptance of resignation of former Punjab chief minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar, after being withdrawn.
LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti heard the petition filed by Tanveer Sarwar.
During the proceedings, the chief justice expressed his annoyance and observed that the petitioner is not an aggrieved party. If the former chief minister does not have objection over the acceptance of his resignation, then how the petitioner can approach the court in this regard, he asked.
At this, the petitioner’s counsel pleaded with the court to allow him to withdraw his plea.
The LHC chief justice observed that such applications are moved for cheap publicity in the name of public interest. Why not one million fine be imposed on the petitioner, the CJ asked.
Later, the chief justice disposed of the petition after being withdrawn.
In the petition, the petitioner had submitted that Buzdar’s resignation was not addressed to the Punjab governor, but to the prime minister of Pakistan. He had prayed to the court to declare acceptance of Buzdar’s resignation ‘unconstitutional’.
Maryam’s plea seeking passport:
In a separate case, a division bench of the LHC headed by Justice Shahbaz Ali Rizvi refused to hear the petition filed by PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, seeking the return of her passport to travel to Saudi Arabia next week to perform Umrah.
In the petition, Maryam had requested the court to direct the Deputy Registrar (Judicial) to return her passport which she had surrendered complying with LHC’s order dated October 31, 2019.
However, the bench said it could not entertain the petition and asked to approach the relevant bench.
Hamza oath case:
In another case, the LHC CJ directed the Punjab advocate general to assist the court after taking instructions from Punjab Governor Omar Cheema regarding a delay in the administration of the oath to Chief Minister-elect Hamza Shehbaz.
Advocate General Punjab Ahmad Awais was told to assist the high court on Friday with the response from the governor.
After the governor’s reluctance to administer the oath, Hamza had moved the LHC to avert a “constitutional crisis”. In his petition, Hamza had pleaded that the governor violated his constitutional duties as well as the court order by delaying the administration of the oath to the CM-elect.
