LAHORE, June 13: A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday held an independent candidate, Rana Arif Iqbal, ineligible to contest elections from PP-121, Sialkot.

The bench heard an election petition filed by former provincial minister Khush Akhter Subhani challenging the acceptance of Iqbal’s nomination papers on the ground that he was a permanent employee of the irrigation department.

Subhani said his service record showed that he was still working with the department and he could contest the elections only two years after leaving the government job.

He said he filed an objection petition before the returning officer (RO) and the service record of respondent was summoned which established that he was on a medical leave for 117 days.

Later, Iqbal was suspended from service on June 14, 2006 after he remained absent from his duty and several notices were issued to him but he did not appear.

Subhani said though an order of his removal from service was issued after these formalities, the matter remained pending on account of his right to appeal.

He said the RO dismissed his objection and accepted the nomination papers of the respondent. He asked the court to accept his petition and set aside the order of the returning officer, which the court did.

Directive: Justice Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi of the Lahore High Court has asked a petitioner to approach the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) for remedy of his complaint against the Punjab Bar Council (PbBC).Petitioner Imran Javed Gull, through his counsel Syed Iqbal Gillani, said the PbBC office-bearers, including the executive committee chairman, were misusing funds reserved for the welfare of the lawyers’ community. He said the funds were being spent on self-projection, private tours and luxuries.

The counsel said in its last meeting, the PbBC rejected the applications on account of medical bills and for the financial help of lawyers’ widows on the ground that it did not have enough funds to entertain such applications.

The lawyer said on the one hand the PbBC had considered supplementary budget on account of deficit in the budget for last year in its meeting while on the other hand it got approved huge funds for holding the bar meeting in Murree, he added.

The court said under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, the petitioner should first approach the PBC in this connection.