LAHORE, Sept 23: The Lahore High Court dismissed on Tuesday a petition challenging the powers of the Punjab chief minister and the housing minister to announce grants for the Hujrah Shah Muqeem Press Club.

Justice Muhammad Ghani observed that the 1973 constitution had debarred the court from hearing cases that challenged such actions of the provincial chief minister and his cabinet.

Article 248(1) of the 1973 constitution says that the chief minister and provincial ministers are not answerable to a court for the exercise of their respective powers and functions, the court observed while dismissing the petition in limine.

The chairman of Shah Muqeem Press Club had submitted that the chief minister announced a Rs1.2 million grant for the Hujrah Shah Muqeem Press Club on Aug 10. The provincial minister for housing also announced another Rs200,000 grant.

The chief minister further directed the authorities concerned to earmark a site for the construction of Hujrah Shah Muqeem Press Club building, which was already being used by the police department and could not be handed over to the press club without the approval of the Board of Revenue.

Allegedly, the Hujrah Shah Muqeem Press Club was no legal entity as a civil court had already restrained its registration. No public funds could be utilized for a press club that was yet to be registered with the Joint Stock Companies.

The court observed that the petitioner had failed to produce a formal order of the chief minister in this regard and based his petition on a news item whose authenticity could not be guaranteed.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that Article 248(1) could only be applied to this case if both the chief minister and the provincial minister had the powers to announce grants. In this case, they had tried to use an authority beyond their domain.

Justice Ghani rejected the argument on grounds that under the Punjab Finance Rules both the respondents had the powers to announce grants for press clubs, Bar associations, cultural associations and NGOs.