LAHORE, July 13: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday reserved its judgment on a writ petition against the legal vires of a decision by Data Ganj Bakhsh Town Naib Nazim Mian Mohammad Usman in returning a recall motion against Nazim Khawaja Ahmad Hassan.

Advocate Omar Bandial, counsel for Mian Usman, concluded his arguments submitting that the Naib Nazim was competent to examine a recall motion as speaker of the council under the Punjab Local Government Ordinance.

On a court question, the counsel submitted that both the court and the speaker were empowered to inquire into the vires of such a motion. The petition was filed by Abdus Samad Ghani, a union council Naib Nazim and ex-officio member of the town council, who had filed the recall motion against Town Nazim Khawaja Ahmad Hassan.

Mian Usman returned the motion with the observation that a recall motion against the Nazim had been moved earlier this year and the law did not provide for a second motion within the same year.

The counsel for the petitioner, Advocate Mohammad Ahsan Bhoon, earlier contented that the first such motion had not been processed and should not be considered. He submitted that the recall motion against the Nazim was the first such motion for all practical purposes.