LAHORE - Lahore High Court Justice Mazhar Iqbal Sidhu on Tuesday resigned from the office for ‘personal reasons’. He sent his resignation to the President of Pakistan. 

After his resignation, the number of judges of the LHC dropped to 59 from the sanctioned strength of 60. He was elevated to the LHC as judge in 2010. In seniority list of the judges, he was on number 10.

 Justice Sidhu got his law degree from Punjab University Lahore in 1985 and the same year, he enrolled as Advocate in Punjab Bar Council and started law practice at District courts of Sheikhupura.

 In 1988, he was enrolled as an Advocate High Court. He was enrolled as member of the Supreme Court Bar Association in 2002.

 His expertise was to deal with criminal cases as a lawyer. He was elected as President of District Bar Association Sheikhupura in 2004.

Court questions subsidy on sugar

The Lahore High Court Tuesday sought arguments on the legal status of the subsidy given by the Punjab government to the sugar industry.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah passed the order while hearing appeals moved by several sugar mills in which they had challenged the ban on shifting of mills to the Southern Punjab.

The bench asked the law officers that under what law, the government provided subsidy to the industry as compared to other industries.

 The question about the subsidy appeared when the counsel of Hunza Sugar Mills pleaded the court that the government’s subsidy to the sugar industry was not being provided to his client’s mills.

ALLEGED MANHANDLING WITH A JUDGE

A Lahore High Court full bench gave last chance to three lawyers to submit reply on a complaint against them for allegedly manhandling with a judicial officer. During the proceedings, Barrister Ehtesham Ameeruddin, Mehar Ahsan and Inam appeared before the bench and pleaded the court to give them some time to submit reply.

At this, the court adjourned the hearing until March 9 and directed them to come up with the reply on the next hearing.