LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday declined a plea to immediately halt the jail trial of Imran Khan, former chairman of Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in the Election Commission contempt case.
The three-member bench, headed by Justice Aalia Neelam, heard Imran Khan’s petition against his jail trial in the contempt case.
At the start of proceedings, Justice Aalia Neelum questioned Imran Khan’s counsel in connection with the office’s objection about missing certified copies in the petition.
In response, the counsel, Ishtiaq A. Khan, clarified that they had not received certified copies but had obtained copies from the website.
To which, Justice Aalia Neelam commented that the case could not advance until the office objection was resolved and questioned the court’s jurisdiction to hear the matter.
At this, Imran’s counsel asserted that the LHC possessed the authority to hear this case. He further submitted that the LHC Rawalpindi bench had forwarded an identical case to the principal seat for hearing while replying to the court suggestion for approaching the Islamabad High Court or the LHC Rawalpindi Bench for hearing of the matter.
However, Justice Aalia Neelam explained that the Rawalpindi bench lacked judges for the constitution of the bench, leading the matter to be transferred to the principal seat.
The counsel submitted that issues of federal nature could be challenged in the provincial court, emphasizing that the Election Commission lacked the authority for contempt or jail trials. He further submitted that no notification had been issued for jail trial in response to a court query.
Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry, another member of the bench, questioned the plausibility of a jail trial without notification.
At this stage, the bench directed the Election Commission’s counsel to provide the bench details about jail trial notification.
The commission’s counsel submitted that the notification for the jail trial was issued by the Home Department on December 8.
The bench addressed Imran’s counsel and questioned whether there was an intention to challenge the notification of the jail trial.
In response, the counsel affirmed that they indeed wanted to challenge the notification, urging the court to schedule the case for tomorrow or the day after.
However, Justice Aalia Neelam commented that the proper sequence should involve challenging first and then considering the matter, noting that the roster of a bench member extends only until today.
Subsequently, the bench declined plea to immediately halt the jail trial of Imran Khan and sought reply from Election Commission and others while adjourning further hearing.
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