LAHORE, Sept 6: Justice Syed Zahid Husain of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday directed the registrar office to advertise in the press the court summonses issued to Punjab government advisers and the chief minister so as to enable them to appear in the court.

The writ petition was filed in April this year and the court was informed that out of the total 30 advisers, only Saba Sadiq and Kamil Ali Agha, who is now a Senator and a state minister, had responded that they had received the summonses.

The petition was filed by a local prayer leader, Maulana Malik Shah Mohammad, who primarily called into question the appointment of Mian Mohammad Munir as an adviser despite the fact that he was convicted by the Supreme Court, along with Tariq Aziz, Akhtar Rasool and six others, under the Contempt of Court Ordinance for storming the apex court.

The court had, subsequently, restrained Mian Munir and Akhtar Rasool from working and directed the chief secretary to withdraw all benefits and perks attached to their offices. The court also served notices on the advisers, six of whom were advisers to the chief minister, asking them under what legal authority they were holding the office.

The petitioner invoked the provisions of Article 93 of the 1973 Constitution, and pleaded that the president alone was competent to appoint five advisers in consultation with the prime minister. The constitution does not stipulate the appointment of advisers either to a provincial government or the chief minister.

The court has already sought the expert opinion in the case from S M Zafar, Aitzaz Ahsan, Dr Khalid Ranjha, Hamid Khan and a few other noted jurists.

The Punjab government opposed the petition with the submission that advisers were appointed by the chief minister under Rule 6(A) of the Rules of Business, 1974, and the appointments did not suffer from legal infirmity.

The court also took serious notice of the appointment of three more advisers to the Punjab chief minister, and sought an explanation from the provincial government for the appointments despite the fact that the court had already taken cognizance of such appointments.

The government appointed Syed Mawahid Husain, the brother of ruling Muslim League’s secretary-general Senator Syed Mushahid Husain, as the special assistant to the chief minister, Iqbal Ahmad Khakwani as adviser to the chief minister, and Chaudhry Mohammad Akram as the chairman of the Chief Minister’s Task Force with the status of an adviser.