25 June 2004	Friday	06 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

LAHORE, June 24: The Lahore High Court on Thursday declined to restrain the Punjab Election Authority from holding a by-election to fill the vacancy of Data Ganj Bakhsh Town Naib Nazim created by the ouster of Mian Usman.

The court, however, asked the authority to explain whether it was preparing for a by-poll, and if so, such an exercise was with in the confines of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 2002.

The court issued notices on an application filed by Mr Usman who feared that the election authority was making arrangements for such a by-election. He prayed the court that the election process should be stayed till the final decision on his writ petition against the recall motion against him.

As for the main petition, its hearing was not taken up because of the absence of Advocate-General Shabbar Raza Rizvi who is in Sri Lanka to attend a Commonwealth workshop.

The court adjourned till next month the hearing of the petition. The Data Ganj Bakhsh Town council voted out Mian Usman through a recall motion on June 14.

The court declined the request of the petitioner for staying election to fill the vacancy created by his ouster with the remarks that it would be unnecessary since no date had been announced for a by-election.