LAHORE, Feb 13: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Sayed Zahid Hussain on Wednesday observed that courts had no power to order the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to appoint a person as prime minister.

The court observed this while dismissing a petition by a citizen, Abdullah, who had asked the court to issue an order for declaring him a prime minister without going through the election process.

"There is a procedure prescribed in the Constitution for becoming a prime minister, therefore, the court cannot go beyond the constitutional scope to declare a person as prime minister," the chief justice wrote in his order.

The petitioner, a resident of Kasur, said he was a labourer and had struggled for years to usher in democracy for the welfare of a common man. He said he had filed several petitions in the LHC over the past 15 years, but none of the judges granted him his prayer to become the prime minister.

Arraigning federation of Pakistan, the prime minister and four provinces, the petitioner prayed the court to ask the respondents to list steps taken for the betterment of a common man. He said the common man was pushed against the wall because of the increasing prices of the edibles.—Reporter