LHC hears intra-court appeals against Hamza Shehbaz’s oath-taking

2025-02-14 18:53:00

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) heard intra-court appeals on Wednesday against Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz’s oath-taking.

The court is considering appeals from the PTI, PML-Q, and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi over several single-bench rulings relating to CM Hamza Shahbaz’s election and oath-taking.

The LHC’s five-member larger bench, led by Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan, summoned Advocate Ahmad Awais to the rostrum and questioned him about the single bench’s comments concerning the President and governor.

“What will happen of the remarks about the president, if we declare the oath-taking order of the court as void,” the bench wondered. “If we have to declare the remarks as void or it would become ineffective,” the court further questioned Ahmad Awais. “You have to declare these remarks as void,” he answered.

“The court has also given its remarks about the then governor that he didn’t fulfill his responsibility,” the bench said. “The governor was not a party, how could remarks be given over him,” the lawyer questioned.

“We have here two issues,” Justice Shahid Jameel said. “How the Supreme Court’s decision implemented over the chief minister’s election, and second is, the high court ordered the election, in which irregularities complained,” the court stated.

In an earlier session, the high court hinted at holding a second election for the post of Punjab’s chief minister under the conditions of April 16, when incumbent Hamza Shahbaz was elected in a court-ordered ballot.

In an earlier hearing, Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan requested Advocate General for Punjab Shahzad Shaukat and the appellants’ counsel to assist the court on whether the problem could be resolved if a new election was held in the same position as on April 16.