LHC orders larger bench to hear PTI plea against Hamza Shehbaz's oath

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has formed a larger bench to hear intra-court appeal from Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) against administration of oath to Hamza Shahbaz.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has filed an intra-court plea against Lahore High Court (LHC) decision directing National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to administer oath to Chief Minister-elect Hamza Shahbaz

The division bench while hearing the case returned it to the chief justice LHC and asked him to form a larger bench as petition has highlighted key points. “A five-member or a larger bench should be formed,” the court announced in its verdict while suspending the paragraph 9 of the decision announced by single bench.

The petition filed from Azhar Siddiq on behalf of 17 members of the Punjab Assembly stated that the election for CM Punjab was not held as per the Constitution. “The Lahore High Court does reserve the right to intervene in parliamentary proceedings,” it said while terming LHC’s April 29 decision as unconstitutional.

The plea asked the court to revert decision of the single member bench and form a larger bench to hear the intra-court petition.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Lahore High Court (LHC) has announced its verdict on Hamza Shahbaz’s petition yesterday and directed the National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to administer the oath to the Punjab Chief Minister-elect.

The high court ordered the NA speaker to administer the oath to the Punjab CM-elect Hamza Shahbaz on Saturday at 11:30 am.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) issued its nine-page verdict which stated that it is the court’s responsibility to protest the basic rights and it was a constitutional right of the court to issue such an order.