Islamabad HC to hear all parties views before ruling in Lodhi sacking case

Islamabad, Jan 18 (ANI): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has issued notices to other parties in the case against the removal of Lt. General (rtd.) Khalid Naeem Lodhi from his office of Secretary Defence, insisting that the ruling will take place only after hearing from all the parties.

Hearing the petition filed by Lt. General (rtd.) Lodhi against his sacking from the post of Secretary Defence, Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan issued notices to all the respondents, including the President, the Prime Minister, Secretary Establishment and acting Defence Secretary as the respondents of the case, The Nation reports.

The petitioner pleaded to the court to annul the notification of his sacking, and made the president, prime minister, cabinet secretary, establishment secretary and acting Defence Secretary Nargis Sethi respondents.

The petitioner argued in the petition that no charge sheet or show cause notice was served for his alleged misconduct, as also, no inquiry was conducted against him before termination of his service contract, the paper said.

Hitting out at the government, the sacked defence secretary said the government removed him to pave the way to arbitrarily remove the chief of army staff (COAS) and director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (DG ISI) to fulfil a 'political agenda' and 'ruin the country'.

He furthermore argued in his petition that the termination of his contract was a violation of fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.

The hearing of the case has been adjourned till February 2. (ANI)