Tag: Apex court

  • ‘PTI will consider participation in APC if we receive official invitation from PM’: Fawad Chaudhry

    ‘PTI will consider participation in APC if we receive official invitation from PM’: Fawad Chaudhry

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry has said on Twitter that if Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif sends an official invitation for the All-Parties Conference (APC) set to take place on February 7 in Islamabad, then his party will consider attending.

    Fawad tweeted, “Shehbaz Sharif came in media and invited PTI for the All-Parties Conference. But Tehreek-e-Insaf has yet not received any invitation in this regard. If we receive an official invitation, we will consider participation.”

    Khan rejects PM Shehbaz’s invitation to APC

    PTI Secretary General Asad Umar has confirmed on Friday, February 4, that party Chairman Imran Khan will skip the federal government’s APC.

    PM Shehbaz Sharif invited the former prime minister and his party at an apex committee meeting in Peshawar.

    Umar, while speaking to the press outside the Lahore High Court, said: “How can we sit with them [PDM-led government] while cases are being registered against us?”

    Stating that the constitution is being violated by registering cases of treason against opponents and all the government resources are devoted to arrests and detentions, he said to the members of the press.

    Earlier today, during the apex committee meeting in Peshawar, Shehbaz Sharif, without naming Khan, said: “I have also invited the person who does not want to even shake hands with me,” stressing that all parties are invited to APC and Apex committee meetings. ‘I hope that it will not be rejected,” said the Premier.

    “We need to fight the menace of terrorism by setting our differences aside and moving forward,” said the PM.

    Recalling his time as opposition leader in the National Assembly, the premier said: “Whenever he [Imran Khan] wrote a letter to me, he never wrote my name on it, however, I always responded with my name and my signature on the letter.”

  • Supreme Court allows government to continue Ravi riverfront project

    Supreme Court allows government to continue Ravi riverfront project

    The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday suspended the ruling of the Lahore High Court (LHC) in the Ravi Urban Development Plan case and allowed the Punjab government to continue work on the project, reports The Express Tribune.

    The bench was hearing appeals against the annulment of the project, earlier declared “unconstitutional” by the Lahore High Court (LHC) on January 25 as the project lacked a master plan.

    The court allowed the provincial government to continue construction activity on plots of land for which dues have been cleared. However, the apex court restricted the Punjab government from continuing construction activity on plots for which dues are still pending.

    During today’s hearing, notices were also issued to the respondents in the case and stated that a review will be done to determine if it constitutes an intra-court appeal. If it is an intra-court appeal, the case will be referred back to the LHC, added to the bench.

    Earlier in the hearing, the apex court reprimanded the legal team of the Punjab government for appearing before the bench in the case unprepared.

    “You do not know what the case is?” asked Justice Ijazul Ahsan when AGP Owais was unable to answer the question. “It seems that you have not prepared.”

    The Punjab AGP replied that the provincial government was not a party to the case in the high court’s verdict. “Not being party to one of 18 petitions does not matter,” Justice Ahsan remarked, adding that the Punjab government had presented its position in the high court.

    The petitions were against the public hearing of the environment agency, AGP Punjab stated further.

    The justice replied that according to the records, acquisition of lands for the project was also challenged and added that the provincial government’s legal team should not misrepresent in court.

    Last week, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan said that the government would move to the Supreme Court after LHC nullified the Ravi Urban Development Project.

    The prime minister during his visit to Rakh Jhok forest said that the case would be presented in a better manner to appraise the court about the significance of the project in view of urban development and civic facilities, further saying that the case was not presented correctly in LHC.

  • Islamabad High Court orders closure of all sheesha cafes in the city

    Islamabad High Court orders closure of all sheesha cafes in the city

    Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ordered the local administration to shut down all sheesha cafes in the federal city with immediate action and submit a progress report to the court as well.

    The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) along with the Islamabad administration and police have mobilised their resources to initiate the crackdown on all sheesha cafes operating in Islamabad.

    The complete ban on sheesha was announced across the country led by the Supreme Court previously in 2015 but in the following year, the bench headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed of the Supreme Court expressed displeasure over the sale and import of sheesha and tobacco smoking items despite the ban from the apex court.

    This time the court emphasised that action must be louder than words.

    The court also asked the advocate generals from the provincial governments about the implementation of previous orders regarding the ban on sheesha smoking in public spaces.

  • Justice Isa’s review petition against verdict on presidential reference accepted

    Justice Isa’s review petition against verdict on presidential reference accepted

    The Supreme Court has granted the review petition of Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

    A 10-member full court bench headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial was hearing Justice Isa’s case in the apex court on Monday.

    The Supreme Court judge and his wife had challenged the apex court’s order on the presidential reference seeking the removal of Justice Isa for failing to disclose foreign properties of his family members.

    After completion of the hearing, Justice Bandial, in his remarks, had said that the bench needed time for consultation.

    Justice Bandial had last week remarked that the Supreme Court would not look at a report on Justice Qazi Faez Isa and his family’s financial matters, compiled by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and will leave it to the Supreme Judicial Council to decide what to do with it.

    The full court bench has been seized with the review petition filed by Justice Isa.

    Additional Attorney General (AAG) Amir Rehman, representing the government, told the bench in Friday that the Supreme Court had given its verdict on the case by keeping into account all the facts and the law.

    He added that the bench had also heard the judge in question.

    “This review petition can therefore not be accepted merely on the assertion that the reference was not heard properly,” Rehman had argued.