LAHORE - The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday suspended a cabinet decision on amendments to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority Act, saying the cabinet ignored recommendations of the Council of Common Interest (CII).
Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah took up the matter on a petition moved by Jahangir Khan Tareen of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He observed that the government did not take the CII serious. He said the CII should be dissolved if the government has no respect for the state institutions.
Earlier, Barrister Mustafa Sherpao, counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the CII in its 31st meeting postponed a bill seeking amendments to sections 13, 14 and 16 of the Nepra Act. He said the CII expressed concerns over the bill, as it was aimed at clipping Nepra’s powers, and suggested consultation with chief ministers of all provinces.
The lawyer said the cabinet, however, ignored recommendations and approved the amendments. He contended that consultation with the CII was important and it could not be introduced without approval of the council. By ignoring council’s recommendations, he said, the government overstepped its jurisdiction. He prayed to the court to set aside the decision of the government on amendments to the Nepra Act without considering recommendations of the CII.
After hearing the arguments, the CJ suspended the impugned decision with directions to the government to come up with complete record.
The court also summoned senior officers of the CII and the Ministry of Water and Power at the next hearing on July 27.
Plea against Dasti’s
detention dismissed
The Lahore High Court dismissed a petition seeking cancellation of cases registered against MNA Jamshed Ahmad Dasti for being non-maintainable.
Mahmood Akhtar Naqvi, a local resident, moved the petition and submitted that many cases were registered against Jamshed Ahmad Dasti and all of them were politically motivated.
However, a law officer argued that the petitioner had no locus standi to file the petition as he was not aggrieved party in the case; so the petition be dismissed.
At this, Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah observed that the petitioner did not even visit the arrested MNA in jail and preferred to move the court.
Dismissing the petition, the CJ also observed that unnecessary petitions waste precious time of the courts having thousands of cases pending.