LAHORE – The authenticity of three notifications issued by the Lahore High Court (LHC) administration on Monday has become dubious because these have been signed by Sohail Nasir, who was recently transferred from the post of LHC Registrar.
Sohail Nasir was posted as presiding officer of the Rawalpindi Consumer Court, an ex-cadre post, on Friday. However, the LHC administration still issued the notification of transfer / posting of three judges signed by him.
According the notification issued on Monday, LHC Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial has transferred District and Sessions Judge Shahazad Pervaiz Abbasi and made him an officer of special duty (OSD). Similarly, Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Anwar Bhatti and Senior Civil Judge Israr Zada have been made OSDs.
On Monday morning, no officer of the LHC administration was willing to take responsibility for the said notifications. However, in the evening, Acting Registrar Abdul Sattar admitted the wrongdoing of his subordinates. Talking to TheNation, Sattar said he had taken notice of the wrongdoing and admonished the officers concerned.
“The three judicial officers were transferred on Friday when Sohail Nasir was still the LHC registrar, but the notification was issued on Monday with the delay of three days,” Sattar justified.
It is still unclear whether the transfer and posting orders of the three judicial officers with the signatures of the former LHC registrar will be obeyed or the administration will issue new notifications with signatures of the acting registrar.
ARREST WARRANTS WITHDRAWN: Chiniot District Police Officer (DPO) Shahzad Akbar on Monday produced an abducted girl in the LHC in compliance with its orders and told the court that she had been recovered from her father’s house. After producing the girl, Justice Shahid Saeed withdrew arrest warrants against the DPO and two other officers while disposing of habeas petition filed by Hafiz Muhammad Aslam seeking recovery of his daughter.
NOTICES ISSUED: Meanwhile, the LHC on Monday issued notices to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and others on a writ petition against change in an approved list of pilgrims by the Police Department.
Traffic warden Ali Adnan filed the petition stating that the ministry wrote a letter to the Punjab inspector general of police on April 27 seeking a list of at least 15 police officials who had not performed Haj duty earlier.
He said the Police Department after holding balloting selected 15 police official including him and sent the list to the ministry. He added the ministry approved the list and duly informed the Police Department through a letter on May 22. “However, the ministry later dropped the names of 10 selected officials including him and included names of its own choice,” he alleged.
The petitioner prayed that the impugned act of the ministry should be set aside. After recording initial arguments, Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan sought replies from the ministry and other respondents by Tuesday (today).
Also, District Consumer Court on Monday summoned M/S Millat Tractors on a petition seeking damages on the charges of providing a new tractor with an old engine.
As per case details, a farmer Shahzad filed petition in the court contending that he had purchased a new tractor from Millat Tractor factory situated at Shahdara Road after paying Rs980,000.