LHC dismisses plea against Ishaq Dar’s appointement as deputy PM

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) dismissed an Intra Court Appeal (ICA) on Thursday, challenging the appointment of Ishaq Dar as the deputy prime minister, ARY News reported.

The Lahore High Court announced the verdict, which was earlier reserved. A two-member division bench headed by Justice Chaudhry Iqbal dismissed the petition and upheld the ruling by the single bench.

A single bench of Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan had previously dismissed the petition for being not maintainable.

The appeal, filed by citizen Ashba Kamran, argued that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appointed Ishaq Dar as Deputy Prime Minister in violation of the Constitution, as there is no provision for the office of Deputy Prime Minister in the Constitution.

The petition also argued that Ishaq Dar, being a senator, is not eligible to hold the office of Deputy Prime Minister, requesting the court to declare his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister null and void.

In the previous hearing, the additional attorney general stated that the premier has the power to appoint a deputy prime minister.

Earlier, Sher Afzal Marwat challenged the appointment of Ishaq Dar as Deputy Prime Minister in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

In the petition, Sher Afzal Marwat maintained that the PML-N leader was already working as the Minister of Finance when he was appointed as deputy prime minister on April 28.

“The office of the deputy prime minister is unconstitutional, and there is no provision in the Constitution 1973 that allows the Prime Minister to appoint someone as his deputy,” the PTI leader added.