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KARACHI, Dec 17: The MMA-PPP candidate for the office of the Sindh Assembly deputy speaker himself came forward on Tuesday to challenge the belated submission and acceptance of his rivals’ nomination papers in the Sindh High Court.
MPA Abdul Rahman Rajput, in a petition filed through Advocate Hashim Siddiqui, maintained that under the assembly rules of procedure only the presiding officer (Jalal Mahmood Shah), who was the returning officer for the election of speaker and deputy speaker, could have extended time for filing of nominations and that too within the office hours on Dec 13, which was a Friday.
Narrating the sequence of events, the petitioner said he filed his papers for deputy speakership at 11:30, half an hour before the 12-noon deadline on Dec 13. He was the only candidate till the closing time and three other candidates - MPAs Raheela Tiwana, S. A. Iqbal Qadri and Muhammad Usman of the National Alliance, Muttahida Qaumi Movement and PML (Q), respectively, - were not allowed to submit their nominations at 12:30. The provincial governor was, however, said to have extended the time till 3pm and the papers of all three candidates were accepted at 1:45pm. The order extending the time was not available with the assembly staff.
The petitioner challenged the nominations immediately and urged the presiding officer to declare him elected unopposed. It was only about 8:30pm that the extension order was shown to him. He said the delay in the filing of the MQM-PML (F)-PML (Q)-NA alliance was caused by internal differences and the time was extended only to favour the coalition.
Citing rules of procedure, he asserted that once the assembly had been inducted, its presiding officer and not the provincial governor had the power to regulate its proceedings. Time could not have been extended beyond the office timings, least of all by the governor.
Accordingly, he prayed that the governor’s order be set aside and he be declared to have been elected deputy speaker unopposed.
DEGREE CASE: Mohammed Rafique Memon appeared in examinations of BA part I and II, not Mohammed Khan Junejo, the petitioner and MNA from NA-236, Sanghar III, adds APP.
The University of Sindh stated this in a rejoinder filed on Tuesday before a division bench of the Sindh High Court comprising Justice Mohammed Roshan Essani and Justice S. Ali Aslam Jafri.
The rejoinder was submitted on behalf of the vice chancellor in a constitutional petition filed by Mohammed Khan Junejo impugning a gazette notification issued by the vice chancellor declaring his (petitioner’s) degree fake.
The copies of the list of examinations have been found tampered with and as per parallel record kept by the Sindh University the actual candidate on this seat number 3420 is Mohammed Rafique Memon, who secured second division as per record of the university, the rejoinder maintained.
The degree shown/submitted by the petitioner before the election authorities “is bogus and was prepared from tampered record and glued documents in the year 2002,” the rejoinder said, adding that the petitioner should have first moved the governor/chancellor of the Sindh University against the said decision of the vice chancellor.
Raja Qureshi, counsel for the petitioner, sought time to submit reply to the rejoinder, whereupon the court put off further hearing for a date to be fixed later.
Another petition filed by three voters against the alleged fake degree of Mohammed Khan Junejo is pending before another bench of the Sindh High Court.
