LAHORE – A full bench of the Lahore High Court dismissed on Monday an appeal filed by the Punjab Government against the single-bench decision ordering the government to make the report of Baqir Najfi judicial commission public.
The bench headed by Justice Abid Aziz rejected the intra-court appeal and announced day to day hearings of the case from October 2 onwards.
The matter was referred to the full bench after Justice Abdul Sami Khan and Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi heard the intra-court appeal filed by the Punjab Government pleading that at least 8 petitions of a similar nature were pending adjudication before a full bench and in such circumstances, the single bench was not empowered to decide the issue.
“The single bench should have referred the same to the full bench” argued home secretary through Punjab advocate general.
He pleaded that “the single bench has made an error in law by holding that proceedings before LHC inquiry commission were judicial in nature and ignored the fact that commission report has no of value and does not count as evidence under relevant law.”
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It bears mentioning that the acting Chief Justice Yawar Ali withdrew himself from the bench after which a new full bench was constituted.
On September 21, Justice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi had ordered the Home Secretary Punjab to make the Baqir Najfi report public by declaring that the proceedings in this regard were judicial and so its outcome was a public document.
The representatives of Punjab Government expressed that if the report is made public, the law and order situation in the province can deteriorate.
