PESHAWAR, Dec 13: Senior civil judge, Peshawar, Shahid Khan, directed the President-elect of the Pakistan Medical Association, Dr Umer Ayub, on Friday not to take the oath of his office till final disposal of a suit filed against the scheduled elections of the association.

The court, however, allowed the elections scheduled for Dec 15 in accordance with the constitution of the association. The court asked that the election results should follow the decision of the case on merit.

The court made the decision while disposing of an application filed for temporary injunctions by the plaintiff, Dr Hussain Ahmad Haroon. The application was filed along with the main suit, praying that the elections of the association should be stayed till final disposal of the suit.

The plaintiff claimed that he was a contesting candidate for the post of president (centre), but the defendants were not allowing him to contest the polls, which was his legal right. He claimed that this act of the defendants would deprive about 5,000 members of the association of their constitutional right.

The defendants stated that Dr Umer Ayub had filed nomination papers for the post of president, and as there was no other contesting candidate, he was elected unopposed on Nov 16, 2002. They submitted that last date for filing of nomination papers was Oct 15, whereas the plaintiff submitted his nomination papers through a courier service on Nov 20, thus his nomination papers were rejected. They added that as he had not applied in time he had no prima facie case.

The court observed that it was an admitted fact that the president-elect should assume the charge of his office and responsibilities in the year 2004, therefore, the court deemed it proper to grant temporary injunction to the fact that the president-elect should not take oath of his office as president.

The court observed that it was evident from the record that last date for filing of nomination papers to contest elections was two months prior to the biennial conference to be held on Dec 15. It was added that the plaintiff should have filed nomination papers before Oct 15 for the post of president-elect, but he had filed his papers on Nov 20.

The court further ruled that it was to be seen and established after recording of evidence of both the parties whether the defendants had manipulated the elections or not.