LAHORE, Sept 11: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday issued notice to the petitioner who had challenged the appointment of advisers to the Punjab government and the chief minister.

The bench issued the notice to prayer leader Maulana Malik Shah Mohammad on the appeal of the Punjab government which pleaded that the court order restraining the appointment of more advisers, should be withdrawn.

A single bench of the LHC issued the restraint order when the petitioner raised objection to the appointment of Mowahid Husain, the brother of PML secretary-general Mushahid Husain, as special assistant to the chief minister, Iqbal Ahmad Khakwani as adviser to the chief minister and Chaudhry Akram as the chairman of the Chief Minister’s Task Force with the status of an adviser.

The order was issued when the Punjab government appealed that more advisers were appointed because the court had not passed an order against their appointment during the hearing of the writ petition. The government also submitted that the order was not interim but appeared to be final which the court could not issue when the petition was still under adjudication and a final decision was yet to be announced.

The writ petition questioned the appointment of some of the advisers who were appointed despite the fact they were convicted by the Supreme Court along with Tariq Aziz, Akhtar Rasool and six others of Contempt of Court for storming the apex court.

The single bench subsequently restrained Mian Munir and Akhtar Rasool from working and directed the chief secretary to withdraw all perks attached to their offices.

The court served notices on the advisers, six of whom are advisers to the chief minister, to show cause 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 Punjab government’s plea before the single bench was that the advisers were appointed by the chief minister under Rule 6(A) of the Rules of Business, 1974, and he was competent to make such appointments.