KARACHI, Jan 29: A full bench of the Sindh High Court adjourned further hearing of a petition moved by Ghulam Akbar Lasi, a PPP candidate from Lasbela national and provincial seats, to ascertain whether he had entered a plea bargain with the National Accountability Bureau and was, therefore, disqualified under the NAB Ordinance, the election laws and Article 63 of the Constitution.
The petitioner, who is contesting from NA-270 and PB-44 against Jam Yousuf of Lasbela, former chief minister of Balochistan, submitted through Advocate Abdul Hafeez Pirzada that he was not even an accused and the question of his entering a plea bargain did not arise.
Mr Lasi’s papers were accepted by the returning officer but the acceptance was set aside by an election tribunal comprising two judges of the Balochistan High Court at the instance of his rival. He approached the Supreme Court against the decision as a three-member bench of judges other than those constituting the tribunal was not available in the BHC. The Supreme Court assigned the case to the SHC bench consisting of Chief Justice Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Justices Qaiser Iqbal and Mahmood Alam Rizvi, which was already seized of petitions challenging orders of the Sindh election tribunals.
Appearing for Jam Yousuf, Advocate Mohammad Riaz Ahmed submitted that the petitioner had been disqualified by a 2002 judgment of the Supreme Court, which still held the field. The SC judgment operated as ‘res judicata’ and barred the hearing of the petition as the matter and the parties involved were the same.
Advocate Pirzada argued that the doctrine of ‘res judicata’ could not apply to summary proceedings such as the one being conducted by the bench. The superior courts have always ruled in favour of participation of contestants, leaving the disputed matters for a decision of election tribunals set up after the elections.
The bench asked NAB counsel Ainuddin Khan to produce the bureau’s record to ascertain whether the petitioner benefited from a plea bargain, which extinguishes criminal charges without quashing civil liability such as disqualification from holding a public office.
Ikhtiar Beg’s plea dismissed
A division bench dismissed in limine a writ petition moved by PPP’s Mirza Ikhtiar Beg for the omission of the name of Salim Zia of the PML (N) and of PPP’s Zulfiqar Qaimkhani from the ballot papers printed for NA-150 and PS-113 (Karachi), respectively.
He said Mr Zia had withdrawn in his favour and Mr Qaimkhani in favour of Mr Zia under a compromise. His counsel, Javed Mir, offered to bear the expenses of re-printing of ballot papers if they had already been printed.
Seeking to be impleaded as an ‘intervener’, independent candidate Javaid Ahmed Chhatari, advocate, submitted that no candidate could approach the court for alteration of ballot papers without citing all the candidates as respondents. Besides, the high courts could not perform the functions of the Election Commission, which is tasked with the drafting and printing of ballot papers.
The bench, which consisted of Justices Azizullah M. Memon and Arshad Noor Khan, observed that it would first proceed to rule on the maintainability of the petition and asked the petitioner’s counsel whether there was any provision of law under which it could direct the Election Commission to modify ballot papers. The counsel conceded there was no provision and the bench dismissed the petition as not maintainable.
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