ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday rejected Tyrian White case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday.
A three-member new IHC bench took up the plea today filed against Khan for not disclosing his alleged daughter in the nomination papers filed for contesting 2018 general elections.
The bench comprising Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Arbab Mohammad Tahir and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz heard the case.
The case had been pending since May 2023 after a three-member bench hearing the case was dissolved by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq. The decision was taken after the opinions of two judges regarding the plea’s maintainability were uploaded on the court website.
The bench comprised IHC CJ Aamer Farooq, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir and had reserved the verdict in the case on March 30 last year. However, Justice Kayani and Justice Tahir had opined against the petition’s maintainability and uploaded their opinion on the IHC official website which was later removed.
The high court explained that without the signatures of the bench head Justice Farooq, the opinion of two judges could not be declared the bench verdict and uploaded to the court website.
As the hearing commenced, Advocate Hamid Ali Shah, representing the petitioner, noted that Salman Akram Raja had submitted a petition for adjournment in this case.
Naeem Haider Panjhuta, Khan’s lawyer, asserted that the matter had already been resolved and that the verdict was previously available on the website.
Panjhuta explained that the verdict was removed from the website, and the bench was subsequently reconstituted through a press release.
Justice Jahangiri inquired whether Panjhuta was representing this case. Panjhuta responded that he was acting as a proxy counsel.
Justice Jahangiri then mentioned that Justices Kayani and Tahir had provided their opinion on this matter.
In response, Advocate Shah pointed out that the opinion was from two judges and lacked the chief justice’s signature.
Justice Jahangiri questioned, “How can we provide relief when the petition has been dismissed?”
Advocate Shah requested additional time to prepare, stating he could only assist the court after reviewing the verdict.
Justice Jahangiri clarified that the Islamabad High Court Chief Justice had recused himself from the bench, and two judges had issued their verdict.
The court emphasized that the disqualification plea against Khan had already been dismissed by the bench.
“The majority decision has already been issued,” remarked the court.
