PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Thursday directed the Charsadda district and sessions judge to ensure the serving of summons on former PPP senator Adnan Khan to appear before it during the next hearing into his petition against disqualification by the returning officer in the 2009 Senate elections.

Adnan Khan, the son-in-law of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, had completed his six-year term in the Senate on a stay order from the high court as his lawyers mostly requested for adjournment on different grounds after he was granted interim relief to contest the polls.

Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Irshad Qaiser ordered the district judge to ensure the serving of summons on Adnan Khan before the hearing, whose schedule will be announced afterwards.

Adnan Khan had filed petition against disqualification in 2009 Senate polls

They also ordered the delivery of notices at all available addresses of the petitioner’s lawyer.

When the bench began hearing into Adnan Khan’s petition, which was filed in 2009, it was informed that summons could not be served on the petitioner.

Qazi Mohammad Anwar, lawyer for a rival candidate Ali Gohar, said the petitioner was a known person and a resident of Tangi in Charsadda district, so how it was possible that summons could not be served on him.

He said the petitioner was granted interim relief by the court and was allowed to contest the 2009 Senate polls.

The lawyer said while the petitioner had completed his term in the Senate on a stay order, his petition against disqualification continued to be pending with the court.

The chief justice observed that the court would decide the petition in accordance with the Constitution and the law and could not be influenced by position of any individual.

In Feb 2009, the court had granted interim relief to the petitioner and suspended an order of the relevant returning officer to disqualify him from contesting the Senate polls.

Mr Adnan was only 34 when he contested the elections on a seat reserved for technocrats on the basis of the said stay order.

Since the interim relief was granted to him, no noteworthy progress took place in his petition against the returning officer’s order.

On most of the occasions, the petitioner’s lawyer applied for adjournment.

Pervez Khattak, who was provincial minister in the coalition government of ANP and PPP in the province in 2009, was the proposer of Mr. Adnan.

While rejecting the nomination papers, the returning officer had observed that Mr. Khan did not qualify the definition of a technocrat as he did not possess the experience of 20 years in relevant field as required under the law for the purpose.

Later, an appellate tribunal had also dismissed his appeal and upheld the returning officer’s order.

In his petition, Mr. Adnan claimed that the returning officer had not provided him with the opportunity of hearing.

On some occasions, the high court expressed displeasure at the absence of the petitioner’s lawyer and observed that no further adjournments would be allowed.

However, the petition continued to be pending with the court.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2016