LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Friday restored the provincial cabinet and Parvez Elahi as the chief minister after he assured the court that he would not dissolve the Punjab Assembly once regains control of the office.
The apex court suspended an order of Governor Balighur Rehman to de-notify Chaudhry Parvez Elahi as the chief minister of Punjab after he assured the court that he will not dissolve the provincial parliament until the next hearing of the case on January 11.
The court directed all the respondents to submit their replies until the next hearing.
The lawyer representing Parvez Elahi in the case assured the bench that his client will not dissolve Punjab Assembly if the court repeals the notification of the Punjab Governor resulting in his dismissal from office after he refused to take the vote of confidence from the assembly on his order.
Barrister Ali Zafar submitted the affidavit on Elahi’s behalf.
The governor’s lawyer that they were ready to withdraw the notification but asked the court to bind Elahi to take the vote of confidence.
Earlier, the LHC bench has adjourned the case hearing till 6pm after PTI lawyer Ali Zafar sought time to submit affidavit that Punjab Assembly will not be dissolved without taking court into confidence.
Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh said the court will not suspend the mandate of the Constitution.
The previous larger bench created on Friday morning fell apart after Justice Farooq Haider recused himself from hearing the case because of his past association with Elahi.
Subsequently, Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh – who is leading the bench – sent the file back to the chief justice to reconstitute the bench.
Later on Friday, the bench was reconstituted under Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh.
In the new bench, Justice Asim Hafeez replaced Justice Farooq Haider.
Other members of the bench incldue Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh, Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, and Justice Muzammil Akhtar Shabbir.
Earlier, five-member larger bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday started hearing a petition filed by Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi against governor’s order which de-notified him as the provincial chief executive.
In the petition, Elahi maintained that the governor’s letter for taking a vote of confidence was not written to the chief minister but the speaker.
He argued that the governor cannot summon another session until the ongoing session was prorogued.
