Plea seeking PSP chief's disqualification from past public offices dismissed.

KARACHI -- The Sindh High Court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking disqualification of former Karachi mayor and Pak Sarzameen Party chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal from the public offices he previously held.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar observed that the petitioner attempted to challenge the previous public offices at a belated stage and sought disqualification from 2002, which was not possible due to an inordinate delay and deep slumber on his part.

Former Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan MNA Salman Baloch filed the petition stating that Mr Kamal remained an employee of the Karachi Medical and Dental College and alleged that he was dismissed from service in 2002 but he concealed the employment in his nomination papers filed in 2002 for the election of MPA as well as in 2005 for the election of local bodies.

The bench in its judgement said that seemingly the respondent was not holding any public office since 2010 and the petitioner had also failed to rationalise if he was so passionate and ardent in the public interest or wanted to act as a whistleblower then why he maintained prolonged muteness during the period when the PSP chief was holding different public offices.

The bench questioned why after the lapse of his tenure, the petition was filed in 2020 with the entreaty that the respondent should be declared disqualified from the beginning or inception of his first public office, which he possessed pursuant to first nomination papers.

It...