Lahore:
Lahore High Court (LHC) has maintained the decision to sack a civilian judge who, while acting as a recurring officer (RO) during a local government election, relieved rigging.
A three-member bench of LHC, led by Justice Sajid Mahmood Sethi, revealed his written order on an appeal filed by former judge Sheikh Ali Jafar.
Sheikh Ali Jafar was previously appointed to rest for a trade union council in Shahkot Tehsil from Punjab.
In this election, the candidate Asghar Ali Asghar was the actual winner, but the civilian judge declared Maqbool Ahmed Javed as the winner. Asghar then filed a complaint with Dro.
On the basis of a letter from DRO, the Election Commission in Pakistan (ECP) ordered a check of the results. A report was sent to the ECP, after which a formal complaint was registered.
The LHC registrar rejected Jafar in March 2006.
Service Tribunal suspended the dismissal order in October 2008, and the higher court maintained the decision of the tribunal while stating that mismatch could not be proved without a formal investigation.
After an investigation, however, the relevant authority rejected the civilian judge from Service in June 2015. The judge filed a departmental appeal that was rejected in September 2015. He later challenged the order of LHC.
The verdict said the election results were changed one month after the original results were handed down.
The number of votes from the winning candidate was reduced at various electoral places and the candidate’s votes were redistributed among losing candidates. According to a witness when the investigation began, the civilian judge asked for forgiveness in the name of God from the complainant.
Dro testified that the election record was manipulated. The court had to decide whether the civilian judge had the authority to change a declared election result – this was one of the most important issues.
