In the instance of illegal employment, the court acknowledges Parvez Elahi’s appeal for medical leave.

Former Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s request to be excused from the Punjab Assembly’s unlawful recruitment hearing has been granted by the Lahore Anti-Corruption Court.

Muhammad Khan Bhatti and other co-accused appeared before the court during the hearing, which was presided over by Judge Javed Iqbal Warraich. The judge received Elahi’s medical report from his attorney.

The hearings were postponed until November 27 after the court gave Elahi a one-day exemption from presence and summoned him and the other suspects for indictment at the subsequent hearing.

In the kickback case involving Parvez Elahi, LHC cancels the FIR.

Earlier on November 1, the Lahore High Court (LHC) made a significant ruling on Saturday concerning the filing of a second formal complaint in the case of alleged kickbacks against Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, the former chief minister of Punjab.

Justice Amjad Rafiq delivered a three-page ruling in which he determined that FIR No. 42 could not be maintained under the law and was thus canceled.

The petitioner had asked for the cancellation of FIR No. 42/24 (dated December 28, 2024), which had been filed in the Anti-Corruption Headquarters Gujranwala over the purported development project “Gujrat to Lakhuwal Old GT Road,” according to the ruling. According to the petition, the new FIR is effectively a continuation of the first two instances.

The petitioner’s attorney drew attention to the fact that the accusations of accepting commissions and bribes were the same in both the first FIR (No. 07, dated 28 March 2023) filed at the Anti-Corruption Lahore and the second FIR (No. 42/24) filed in Gujranwala. Consequently, it was illegal to file a fresh FIR for the same offense.

According to the ruling, the petitioner has already been the subject of proceedings before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over the identical accusations. Therefore, it is double jeopardy to file a second case on the same charges. The court noted that although the accused individuals in the three FIRs are essentially the same, the allegations have been divided into several sections.

According to the court, all offenses connected to a single transaction should, in theory, be included in a single FIR; however, if further information or people come to light over the course of the inquiry, those may be included or other sections may be used.

The petitioner’s stance is legally sound, the court decided, and the current FIR is in violation of the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s established norms. FIR No. 42 is canceled as a result. However, the court said that the pertinent claims may be lawfully added to the previously filed FIR if the Anti-Corruption Establishment deems it fit.