LAHORE   -   The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday set aside a notifica­tion by the provincial caretaker government for deferring the cre­ation of the new Gujrat division, Wazirabad district and Ahmad Pur Chattha tehsil.

Justice Shahid Karim passed the orders while allowing petitions filed by Ikhlaq Chattha and others chal­lenging the caretaker government’s notification for deferring the cre­ation of new Gujrat division, Wa­zirabad district and Ahmad Pur Chattha tehsil till the general elec­tion in Punjab.

The petitioners’ counsel had ar­gued before the court that only the elected government was em­powered to take policy decisions whereas the caretaker govern­ment did not have powers for the purpose. They submitted that the previous elected government an­nounced the creation of the Gujrat division, Wazirabad district and Ahmad Pur Chattha tehsil but the caretaker government issued a no­tification for deferring the step.

They submitted that the caretaker government was not empowered to take such steps and pleaded with the court to set aside the notification by the caretaker government for defer­ring the creation of the new Gujrat division, Wazirabad district and Ah­mad Pur Chattha tehsil.

After hearing detailed arguments of parties, the court set aside the notification issued by the caretaker government.

It is pertinent to mention here that the court had already suspend­ed the notification of the caretaker government in February.