The press statement mentions Muhammad Zaka Ashraf and Mustafa Ramday as the nominees for the PCB patron, based on a letter issued by the Prime Minister's Office on June 20.
LAHORE: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-June 27th, 2023) The Lahore High Court (LHC) issued a stay order on Tuesday, halting the election of the Pakistan cricket Board (PCB) chairman. The court demanded responses from the Federal government and other involved parties regarding two petitions challenging the election.
Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) also requested a report from the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) on a separate petition filed against the election of the PCB chairman.
LHC Justice Shahid Karim granted the injunctive order in response to a petition filed by Gul Zada, who raised objections to the election process. The court adjourned the further hearing until the first week of August. The petitioner's counsel argued that the Balochistan High Court had already stayed the election of the PCB chairman.
The counsel representing the PCB, Imtiaz Rashid Siddiqui, objected to the admissibility of the petition and sought permission to submit a written reply. The judge allowed the request and suspended the election schedule until the next hearing.
The petitioner claimed that the upcoming election would be illegal since the PCB had not yet concluded its regional elections or updated the voter lists. Many zonal members, including the petitioner, were allegedly not included in the voter lists. The petitioner requested the court to halt the election of the PCB chairman, which was scheduled for Tuesday.
In a separate development, Justice Anwar Hussain of the IHC also issued a stay order against the election of the PCB chairman based on a petition filed by Malik Zulfiqar.
Furthermore, IHC Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb has sought a report from the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination regarding a petition filed by Irfan Manzoor, a PCB office-bearer from Islamabad. The petitioner challenged a notification issued on June 20 by the IPC ministry, which dissolved the board's management committee and transferred the PCB to the election commissioner.
The management committee, led by Najam Sethi since his appointment in December last year, has now been dissolved. Ahmed Shehzad Farooq Rana, the PCB Election Commissioner, has assumed the role of acting chairman until the elections are conducted. The election process has faced delays due to ongoing litigation and allegations of pre-poll rigging, with the polls in several regions, including federal areas, Abbottabad, Sialkot, and Multan, still pending.
The petitioner's counsel drew the IHC's attention to an undated notification issued by the PCB, which did not specify the Names of any Board of Governors (BoG) members but referred to them by designation or the entity responsible for their nomination. The counsel also mentioned a PCB press release from June 22, stating that the acting chairman had constituted the BoG in accordance with the PCB Constitution 2014 and the June 20 notification.
The press statement mentioned Muhammad Zaka Ashraf and Mustafa Ramday as the nominees for the PCB patron, based on a letter issued by the Prime Minister's Office on June 20. The petitioner argued that since a new BoG had already been constituted through an official notification, the PCB could not establish a different governing body through a press release.
Justice Aurangzeb put off until July 4 the hearing of the case.
