A full bench of the Lahore High Court on December 31 declared delimitation for the local government elections in the Punjab illegal and asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to carry out fresh delimitations.
The bench declared Section 8 and Section 9 of the Punjab Local Government Act 2013 unconstitutional and directed the Punjab government to amend the law to place the process of delimitation under the purview of the election commission instead of the executive.
CJ takes suo-moto notice of five-year-old’s rape
Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani had directed Inspector General Police Punjab on December 24 to submit a report on the progress in investigation and arrest of those involved in the rape of a five-year-old girl in Mughalpura, Lahore.
IGP Khan Baig appeared before a three-judge bench and said that as many as 186 suspects had been interrogated. He said no arrest had been made due to lack of admissible evidence. He said Investigation DIG had been monitoring the investigation and was hopeful.
Baig requested more time to submit a final report. The bench agreed and adjourned the hearing for two weeks.
Efroze Chemicals to pay compensation to family members
The Supreme Court accepted on December 30 a compensation package of Rs 400,000 each for the families of the 213 heart patients who had died at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology due to a contaminated batch of Isotab manufactured by Efroze Chemicals.
Efroze Chemicals informed the SC that they would begin making the payments on January 15. Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani said the court would monitor the process of payments and act in case of a delay.
Live Stock Department asked to explain termination of employees’ contracts
On December 30, the Lahore High Court issued a restraining order against the removal of contract employees in the Live Stock Department. Justice Muhammad Khalid Mahmood Khan sought a response from the department’s secretary on petitions moved by employees challenging their removals. The petitioners said that they had been appointed on a contract basis in the Live Stock Department, but had been terminated before the end of their contract period.
Petition against Zardari and Nawaz withdrawn
On January 1, The LHC on dismissed a petition seeking disqualification of former president Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar as withdrawn by the petitioner, Muhammad Fakhir.
The petition had said that that Zardari, Nawaz, Nisar and other politicians facing allegations of corruption should be declared ineligible under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution to run for public office.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 6th, 2014.