LAHORE: Feb 23, The election appellate tribunal court of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has  dismissed an appeal  of former information minister Pervez Rashid against the rejection of his nomination papers for Senate elections by the Returning Officer over his defaulter of Punjab House Islamabad.

The PML-N senior leader, Pervaiz Rashid has challenged the order of returning officer at the Punjab Election Appellate Tribunal of the LHC, saying that he was ready to address the objections raised by the returning officer.The counsel of the defender stated before the court that not clearing the dues had not been the intention of their client, adding their client wanted to deposit the money but neither any officer was ready to hear him nor any account details were provided for the purpose.

One of the objections pertained to a purported demand raised by administration Punjab House, Islamabad through a notice on January 17, 2019, for an amount of Rs6.9 million and another notice for an amount of Rs2.65 million, making a total of over Rs9.5 million.

The Punjab government had released a list of people, including Rashid, who had not cleared their bills for staying and having meals at the Punjab House.During the hearing , Rashid’s counsels cited several judgments in support of his client, establishing that the RO’s order was against the norms of the law.

The respondent side strongly opposed the stance, imploring that the RO, accepting the stance of Pervez Rashid, had given him 24 hours to submit the dues, but he failed to do so.

Justice Sahid Waheed asked the comptroller of Punjab House where the audit was carried out, at which he replied that it was carried out at Punjab House, Islamabad. The comptroller further said that the notices were received at Rashid’s residence in Defense Housing Authority.

The counsels implored the court that their client had not received any notice from the Punjab House relating to his outstanding dues and their client had also submitted an application before the Returning Officer for clearing all dues but his application was rejected.

Advocate General Punjab argued that the petitioner submitted his declaration on oath but astonishingly enough, he did not mention the dues anywhere in his nomination papers. He added that the said room was allotted to Rashid and he himself had to clear his dues.The respondent’s counsel further said that the Supreme Court had ordered recovery from Rashid in the Ataul Haq Qasmi case.

Shehzad Shaukat argued, “I’m raising objection on the nomination papers of Pervez Rashid in light of the verdict of the top court,” saying the top court had maintained that the petitioner appointed Qasmi illegally. The petitioner’s counsels responded, saying that an appeal is still pending with the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on the case. Petitioner’s counsels argued that the dues could be deposited before the election adding several verdicts of Supreme Court of Pakistan are available.

Justice Waheed noted, “you mentioned the bank account on page 40 of your appeal. And you did not deny anywhere in your appeal that you had not used the room of the Punjab House.”Pervez Rashid, he added, should have cleared the dues at the time when he left the room. At this, the counsel maintained that Punjab House could get the dues cleared by issuing notices to the Senate chairman. He prayed to the court to issue directions for depositing of the dues and direct the RO to accept the nomination papers of the petitioner and include his name in the final list of the candidates.