PESHAWAR, Sept 27: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday dismissed a writ petition of a former major who had sought acceptance of his nomination papers.

The petitioner, Maj Abid, claimed that Article 63(i) (k) was in conflict with the Constitution and thus should be declared ultra vires. The Article bars a government servant from contesting polls unless two years have lapsed since he left the service.

The former major had also requested the court to declare the provision of the Conduct of General Elections (Amendment) Order 2002 and Representation of Peoples Act against the Constitution.

A division bench comprising Justice Khalida Rachied and Justice Fazalur Rehman Khan observed that the high court had no jurisdiction to strike down a provision of the Constitution.

Accompanied by his counsel, Shumayal Butt, the petitioner appeared before the court and contended that he had served the country while he was in the army and now he wanted to serve people, but the said constitutional provision was a hurdle in his way.

His counsel asked the court why the Constitution was only meant for ordinary people and not for the influential. Citing the example of the president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, he stated that the former was a serving general and on the next day of his retirement he was made president. The counsel said that it was the duty of the high court to harmonize different provisions of the Constitution.

Deputy Attorney-General Hamid Farooq Durrani contended that the petition was not maintainable. He said the bench was sitting under Article 199 and it had no jurisdiction to declare a constitutional provision ultra vires. He said that when the petitioner was fond of serving his people why he did not resign from his service earlier.