LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday issued notices to the federal government, Punjab governor and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on a petition of former interior minister Sheikh Rashid challenging the working of the caretaker government in the province beyond the mandate of 90 days.

Justice Shahid Karim also sought assistance from the attorney general for Pakistan on the continuation of a caretaker government if the general elections were not held within 90 days.

Petitioner’s counsel Azhar Siddique argued before the court that a caretaker government would cease to exist if it failed to hold the election within the constitutional mandate of 90 days.

He said the previous elected chief minister would stand restored automatically if the caretaker government did not hold the election within the stipulated time period.

The counsel asked the court to restrain caretaker chief minister Mohsin Naqvi from working for being unconstitutional and issue an appropriate direction to run day-to-day operations of the province under the supervision of the high court.

An assistant advocate general questioned the maintainability of the petition and stated that a similar petition had already been dismissed by a judge of the high court.

Justice Karim observed that the court was not issuing a notice to the caretaker government and would see the matter constitutionally. The judge adjourned the hearing for a week.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2023