LAHORE, Oct 23: A full bench of the Supreme Court suspended on Thursday the operation of a Punjab Election Authority notification for Data Ganj Bakhsh union councillors voting on the recall motion against Town Nazim Khwaja Ahmed Hassaan on Oct 27.

Suspending the PEA notification, Justices Munir A. Sheikh, Iftikhar Ahmad Chaudhry and Fakir Muhammad Khokhar observed that the local governments were elected bodies and should be allowed to function without interference.

Challenging the validity of the PEA notification, Khwaja Hassaan’s counsel Justice Malik Muhammad Qayyum (retired) contended that a petition questioning the adoption of the recall motion was already pending before the court in spite of the declaration of the seconder that the allegations were baseless and that his support to motion had been extorted under pressure and threats to him and the lives of his family.

No subsequent proceedings could take place pending the apex court decision on the pending petition.

He further submitted that the actions of the Punjab government were mala fide and were tantamount to interference in the local government affairs.