LAHORE   -   The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday sought a reply from the Punjab government within a week on a petition challeng­ing removal of Hafiz Tahir Mah­mood Ashrafi as chairman of the Muttahida Ulema Board Punjab. Justice Shahid Jamil Khan heard the petition filed by Tahir Mah­mood Ashrafi. The petitioner’s counsel argued before the court that his client was appointed as the chairman of the board on Feb 19, 2019 and was reap­pointed to the post on March 31, 2022. He submitted that as per law, the chairman of the board could not be removed till the completion of his term. However, he said, the Auqaf de­partment illegally terminated the services of Tahir Ashrafi on Sept 19 through a notifica­tion, adding that the notifica­tion of new appointment also did not mention under which law this change had been made.The counsel requested the court to set aside the notification for being illegal and stay its opera­tion till the final decision of the petition. The court, after hear­ing initial arguments, declined the request for immediately issuing a stay order. The court directed a provincial law officer to inform under which law the appointment of the chairman of the board was made, till the next week.