LHC dismisses Punjab govt plea against release of Model Town inquiry report

LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) dismissed on Monday the Punjab government's plea to set aside an earlier court order to make public the inquiry report of the 2014 Model Town killings.

Hearing the case, the full bench, headed by Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh and comprising Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Shahbaz Rizvi, observed that the matter will now be heard on a daily basis from October 2. 

The Punjab government had filed an intra-court appeal (ICA) against the September 21 decision of a single-bench ordering the release of the Model Town inquiry report, authored by LHC Justice Baqar Najafi. 

Since the government's plea has been dismissed, the matter of releasing the inquiry report still stands, according to sources.

Earlier today, the full bench set to hear the case was dissolved after the acting chief justice, who was heading the bench, recused himself over 'personal reasons'. 

Also today, the two-member division bench referred to the [now defunct] full bench the Punjab government’s appeal. Justice Abdul Sami Khan and Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi heard the government's ICA and then referred it to the full bench.

The full bench was also set to hear today several other petitions filed by victims of the Model Town killings. The new bench, headed by Justice Sheikh, accepted the petitioners' pleas to take back their petitions.  

On September 21, Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi ordered the Punjab home secretary to make public the report, authored by LHC Justice Baqar Najafi, on the Model Town killings and provide a copy to the families of those killed and injured in the 2014 incident.

The government in its appeal against the decision, challenged the jurisdiction of the single bench to give its decision on the report, on the grounds that as many as eight identical petitions on the same matter were already pending before a full bench.

In the appeal, the government said it was neither asked by the single bench to file any reply nor was put on notice on the matter, adding that it was also not given any opportunity to explain its position on the case.