LAHORE - Lahore High Court Justice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi refused to hear the bail petition of PTI MNA Ch Ghulam Sarwar citing personal reasons.
The judge remarked that the court had already decided another case involving Sarwar and it would be in the interest of justice that some other court might hear the bail petition. However, the court extended the bail till February 20 and referred the matter to LHC Chief Justice.
Former federal minister was facing charges of contesting 2002 General Elections on a graduation degree secured on the basis of a fake intermediate certificate.
As the proceedings started, the petitioner’s counsel Akram Qureshi argued that public image of his client is being tarnished on the basis of a fake case. He said the voters of the constituency have reposed confidence in Sarwar by electing him as their representative.
A law officer told the court that an FIR had been registered against Sarwar on the direction of the Election Commission. He said that the Anti Corruption Establishment had completed its investigation and found him guilty. The prosecution said that Sarwar had failed the practical exam for a diploma but had obtained an NOC in connivance with the Punjab Board of Technical Education employees. He said that Sarwar had attached the same NOC to a form for his BA admission.
Counsel for Sarwar said that the PBTE did not have the authority to cancel the diploma. He said his client had been elected twice as member of the parliament on the basis of that certificate. He said Sarwar was being implicated in a false case.
The Anti-Corruption Establishment had filed a case against Sarwar for obtaining a fake diploma to appear in his BA exam. The ACE reported that Sarwar had obtained a duplicate diploma that had actually been issued to another candidate of the same name. Their fathers’ names, however, were different.
The ACE then filed a case against Sarwar; the Punjab Board of Technical Education’s former chairman, its secretary and two other officials for unlawfully issuing the duplicate diploma.
JUDGES APPOINTMENT: Pakistan Bar Council vice chairman Ramzan Chaudhry called for merit-based appointment of judges in the superior courts. He said the existing procedure for appointment of judges curtailed the role of bar councils being major stakeholders. There should be an independent institution for the appointment of the judges, he added.
Chaudhry expressed these views at a “Meet the Press” held in Lahore Press Club on Friday. He hailed Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jilani for taking several decisions aimed at welfare of the lawyers.
However, he criticised National Judicial Policy, introduced by former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and said all the cases should be treated equally instead of being “older” or “newer”. He also disapproved administrative division of Lahore and appointment of two Sessions Judges. He gave an ultimatum to the Punjab government to withdraw the decision of city’s division. Otherwise, he said the lawyers would be on roads. He was of the view that the decision was a conspiracy to divide the legal fraternity.
INTRA COURT APPEAL OVER JUDGES APPOINTEMTN: An Intra Court appeal has been filed in the Lahore High Court against the single bench order wherein a petition seeking appointment of judges in high courts through written test and interview after advertising the posts properly was dismissed.
In the first week of February 2013, the Lawyers Foundation through its President Syed Feroz Shah Gilani moved the petition through Advocate A K Dogar.
The lawyer had submitted that the appointment of judges in high courts and Supreme Court without conducting written and psychology test and interview was a violation of the merit. The eligible lawyers become disappointed when posts for judges in higher judiciary were not advertised and filled by a selection process disallowing many competent candidates from sitting in examination for the slots. He had requested the court to issue directions to the quarters concerned to fill the vacant posts of judge in higher judiciary after written test and interview.
Justice Ejazul Ahsan had dismissed the petition by declaring it non-maintainable and that the petitioner was not aggrieved party.