LAHORE, March 15: The Lahore High Court will hear on Tuesday as objection petition the plea of a former MPA and ex-chairperson of Lahore district council against the order of a NAB court declaring him a proclaimed offender.
Chaudhry Shaukat Ali had gone missing after he was convicted by an accountability court of Lahore. The court declared him a proclaimed offender with the instructions that he should be arrested as and when seen by a law enforcing agency.
The former MPA pleaded in the writ petition that the NAB court orders against him should be withdrawn enabling him to surrender before the Lahore High Court.
The LHC registrar office raised the objection that he would be entitled to a legal relief only after he surrendered voluntarily. The office said that the law required that a proclaimed offender should first surrender.
Chaudhry Shaukat challenged the office objection on the plea that it was the court and not the registrar's office to raise such an objection. The court subsequently decided that Chaudhry Shaukat Ali's plea would be heard as an objection petition.
Adjourned: The Lahore High Court on Monday adjourned the hearing of a writ petition filed by Punjab Bar Council's former vice-chairperson Arif Chaudhry against cancellation of his membership of the Lahore High Court Bar Association.
The Bar had dismembered Mr Chaudhry after he invited Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi to a dinner reception when the council's new building on Fane Road was under construction about a year ago. The Bar had earlier decided, through a resolution, that no government official would be extended invitation to any of the legal community fora.
The chief minister announced a grant-in-aid of Rs10 million of which Rs4 million were disbursed immediately and the remaining was received by the new Punjab bar Council leadership earlier this month. Mr Chaudhry challenged the decision of the LHC Bar through a writ petition which is being heard by Justice Syed Tasaddaq Husain.
