Staff Report

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti Wednesday directed Punjab Governor Omar Sarfaraz Cheema to administer the oath to CM-elect Hamza Shahbaz himself or appoint a nominee for the constitutional duty by Thursday.

The directive comes as the LHC announced the verdict on chief minister-elect Hamza Shehbaz’s petition against the delay of his oath-taking, which the court ruled as “unconstitutional”.

Hamza was elected as Punjab’s chief minister on April 16. However, he hasn’t sworn in yet as his oath-taking was deferred twice despite the LHC’s directives for not delaying the matter any further.

The LHC reserved the verdict on Hamza’s plea on Tuesday, which is the second time PML-N has reached out to the high court for the resolution of the matter.