ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ordered the Lahore High Court (LHC) to decide on the intra-court appeal against the interim bail decision of PTI President Parvez Elahi by August 21.
A three-member bench headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan heard the case.
The additional advocate general appeared on behalf of the Punjab government and said that the intra-court appeal against the decision of the single-member bench of the LHC is being heard in the high court.
Justice Ahsan however questioned, “How is your intra-court appeal admissible at the high court?”
The lawyer responded saying that on August 21, a two-member bench of the LHC will hear the issue of admissibility of the application. “If the court wishes, it may issue a directive that the issue of admissibility be decided on August 21,” he added.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail remarked that litigating against each other is not a good precedent and instead urged the concerned parties to “sit together and resolve the issue through consensus”.
Elahi’s lawyer agreed with the suggestion expressing frustration over his client being released and rearrested repeatedly.
Notably, the PTI president was first arrested by the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) with the help of the Punjab Police in Lahore on June 1. He has since been released and rearrested multiple times.
Justice Mandokhail questioned that “If a person is appearing himself to face the charges, why is he being arrested again and again? I don’t know what the government wants to achieve by arresting the same accused repeatedly.”
On the other hand, the Punjab government’s lawyer argued that the LHC had no jurisdiction to take notice of the matter on its own.
Justice Mandokhail responded by pointing out the irony in how the government felt “it has the right to file cases upon cases on its own but the court does not have the right to take notice on its own”.
Justice Ahsan also remarked that the case concerned the protection of an individual’s freedom. “Taking away the freedom of a citizen is unconstitutional, taking away freedom even for a minute is a violation of the Constitution.”
Later, the SC issued directives to the LHC to decide the matter by August 21.
The apex court also said that if the high court fails to take a decision by the next hearing, the single bench decision will be reinstated.
It may be noted here that a single bench of the LHC had ordered against arresting Elahi in any case.
