LAHORE, May 23: The Lahore High Court chief justice on Thursday issued a notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan on a petition seeking recount of votes in PP-266, Layyah, and withholding of notification of the returned candidate.

Muhammad Shafiq, a voter in the constituency, filed the petition and said the difference of votes between returned candidate Chaudhry Ashfaq Ahmad and the runners-up was around 7,000.

He said the votes termed rejected/invalid by the staff at different polling stations of the constituency were almost equal to the lead taken by the winning candidate.

The petitioner alleged that most of the votes were cancelled owing to mistakes by the polling staff and not the voters.

He prayed to the court to order recount in the constituency and also stop the ECP from notifying the returned candidate till the outcome of the recount.

The chief justice refused to give instant relief of stay to the petitioner and issued a notice to the ECP for June 11.

Notice served on PU

The Lahore High Court (LHC) has issued a notice to the Punjab University syndicate chairman on a petition challenging the appointments of 10 officers of the varsity, including the registrar, controller examinations and others.

The court directed an assistant advocate general to seek a report from the respondent (syndicate chairman) and appear on the next hearing.

Sardar Muhammad, an assistant of the university, filed the petition and sought cancellation of appointments of Prof Khan Raas (registrar), Prof Dr Liaqat Ali (controller), Javed Sami (resident officer-I), Prof Dr Aurangzeb Alamgir (additional registrar-I), Naveedur Rehman (deputy registrar academic), Rao Muhammad Sharif (additional treasure), Malik Muhammad Zaheer (resident officer-II), Muhammad Ameen Khan (assistant registrar), Dr Nauman Ahmad (deputy chief medical officer) and Javed Akram (senior land officer).

The petitioner stated that impugned appointments were made in violation of Punjab University rules and Esta Code of the government.

He prayed that the appointments of the respondent officers be declared illegal and the university authorities be directed to fill the post afresh by promotion or election among the employees of the university in accordance with and the merit policy.

Report sought

The Lahore High Court on Thursday took notice of a news item published in a section of the press regarding acid attack on a woman and her two sons in Hazro.

The district and sessions judge, Attock, has been directed to probe the matter and submit a detailed report regarding steps taken by the local police, along with his own comments, says a handout.

A woman, resident of suburban area of Hazro, was at her house with her two sons aged three and one years. A man entered the house, sprayed them with acid and escaped.

The woman and her sons suffered burns and were hospitalised.

The LHC Complaint Cell took serious notice of the news and directed the D&SJ to look into the matter and submit a report within a week.