LAHORE - A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench Monday suspended a single bench order that stopped authorities concerned from arresting former chief minister Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi in any undisclosed case.
The bench, headed by Justice Baqar Ali Najafi, heard the appeal filed by the Punjab government against single bench orders. The bench also issued notices to the respondents on the appeal and sought a reply. Earlier, Advocate General Punjab Khalid Ishaq argued before the bench that different institutions were carrying out investigations against Chaudhry Parvez Elahi on charges of corruption in projects, money laundering and others. He submitted that an LHC single bench stopped the institutions from taking any action against the former chief minister and it badly affected the process of investigations. He requested the bench to set aside the single bench order and suspend it till the final decision of the appeal.
At this, the bench admitted the appeal for regular hearing and suspended the single bench order while issuing notices to the respondents. On July 14, an LHC single bench had stopped the authorities concerned from arresting Chaudhry Parvez Elahi in undisclosed cases. The court was hearing a petition filed by Parvez Elahi seeking details of the cases against him.
Earlier, the Lahore deputy commissioner (DC) issued a 30-day detention order for PTI President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO). The order stated that Elahi would be held at Lahore’s Camp Jail, where he has been incarcerated since last month.
Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday disposed of a petition filed by former chief minister Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi against his detention.
Justice Ali Baqar Najafi heard the petition filed by the former chief minister challenging his one-month detention. During the proceedings, a provincial law officer submitted that the petition was not maintainable as the petitioner had not availed the available remedy first before approaching the high court. He submitted that the petitioner should have approached the deputy commissioner first.
The court also agreed with the stance of the law officer and directed Parvez Elahi’s counsel to move an application to the deputy commissioner against detention. At this, the petitioner’s counsel did not press the petition and sought permission to withdraw it. Subsequently, the court disposed of the petition as withdrawn. It is pertinent to mention here that deputy commissioner Lahore had issued detention orders of Chaudhry Parvez Elahi for one-month on recommendations of the Punjab police, under Section 3 of Maintenance of Public Order.