LAHORE, Dec 20: The Lahore High Court on Monday dismissed two petitions which sought the removal of Qazi Ahmad Saeed as registrar of the National Industrial Relations Commission.

The petitions were filed by NIRC's deputy registrar Pervez Alvi and a union leader of a local industry. The two had requested the court to declare as illegal the appointment of Mr Saeed on the grounds that he was appointed not from a regular seniority list of officers but picked from the surplus pool.

They submitted that Mr Saeed was not eligible for appointment as the NIRC registrar. Deputy Attorney-General Dr Danishwar Malik contended that Article 3 (3) of the constitution empowered the federal government to make such an appointment and Mr Saeed's induction into the NIRC was neither unlawful nor unconstitutional.

As for the second petition, the DAG submitted it was moved with a mala fide intention by a person who had nothing to do with the seniority list of the government officers nor was he an aggrieved party.