PESHAWAR, Aug 23: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday declined to bar candidates possessing seminary sanads from contesting the local government polls owing to non-availability of the Supreme Court’s recent judgment on the issue.

During the last hearing the PHC had directed some petitioners to produce a copy of the apex court’s judgment delivered on Aug 16 in Lahore. The apex court had set guidelines to accept the sanad as equivalent to matriculation, the qualification candidates running for the offices of union council nazim and naib nazim are required to possess.

The Supreme Court had ruled that the sanad would be equivalent to matriculation if the person holding it should also have passed additional subjects of English, Urdu and Pakistan Studies.

Lawyers Qazi Muhammad Anwer and Abdul Lateef Afridi informed a two-member bench of the high court comprising Justice Ijaz Afzal and Justice Fazalur Rehman Khan that the Supreme Court had not released the judgment yet.

The bench observed that in the absence of the SC’s judgment the candidates could not be barred from contesting polls.

The PHC dismissed six identical writ petitions filed by candidates for the posts of UC nazims seeking disqualification of their rivals in the light of guidelines set by the apex court.

The rival candidates possess sanad of Shahadatul Sanvia Ama issued by the Ittehadul Madaris.

The bench observed that the petitioners had the remedy to file petitions before the election tribunals which would be formed after the polls and they could agitate this point there.

Mr Afridi said that election tribunals constituted after the polls normally took too much time for deciding such issues. He said the tribunal used to meet once a week and when it decided cases finally the tenure of elected persons was about to end.

The lawyer requested the court that while disposing of these petitions directives should be issued that after the provision of the apex court’s verdict the election tribunals should decide these matters summarily.

The six petitions were filed by Sher Muhammad of union council Ahmadkhel, Jehangir Khan of UC Lakki Marwat 2, Muhammad Sohail of UC Ghaznikhel (Lakki), Muhammad Azeem Khan of UC Beghukhel, Abdul Qudoos of UC Kotakot (Kohistan) and Saeed Jan of a UC in the Hangu district.

The bench took up for hearing about 10 sanad-related writ petitions on Tuesday. These petitions were of two category: either the candidates possessing sanad had challenged rejection of their nominations by returning officers or the candidates had challenged nominations of rival candidates who possessed seminary sanads.

In three petitions, the candidates possessing sanad had challenged the rejection of their nomination papers by the returning and the district returning officers.

In those petitions the bench observed that the court had already granted interim relief to the petitioners and had allowed them to contest polls. The bench observed that there was no bar on them to contest polls and their petitions would be taken up for hearing after the polls.

In case of Khalid Lateef Zakori, a candidate for the post of nazim of UC Gandi Khankhel (Lakki Marwat), an application was filed by his rival, Anwer Hayat, seeking withdrawal of the interim relief granted to Mr Zakori as he possessed the sanad. Mr Hayat said that after the apex court’s judgment Mr Zakori was not entitled to contest polls.

The bench dismissed Mr Hayat’s application. Before the apex court announced its verdict on Aug 16, the high court had allowed scores of candidates to contest polls on the basis of the sanad, observing that the sanad of Shahadatul Sanvia Ama was equivalent to the secondary school certificate or matriculation.