The petition challenging Buzdar’s resignation withdrawn from the high court.

On Thursday, Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti of the Lahore High Court dismissed a withdrawn case challenging the acceptance of former chief minister Usman Buzdar’s resignation by then-Punjab governor Muhammad Sarwar.

Tanvir Sarwar, a citizen, filed the petition, claiming that the previous chief minister’s resignation violated the constitution. He claimed that instead of addressing his resignation to the governor as required by the constitution, the former chief minister addressed it to the prime minister, and that according to Article 130(8) of the constitution, the outgoing chief minister should write his resignation by hand, but Buzdar signed a typed resignation.

The judge voiced severe disapproval with the petitioner’s lawyer during the hearing. The top judge questioned him, “Why was the petition filed since you are not an injured person?”

“What is your concern if the person whose resignation was accepted has no difficulty?” You’ve made a mockery of the legal system. You guys talk about democracy all the time yet have no patience. Is this democracy?” you might wonder. Angrily, the chief justice observed.

According to the petitioner, the prime minister thereafter conveyed Buzdar’s resignation to then-governor Muhammad Sarwar, who eventually accepted it.

The chief minister must also write his resignation letter to the governor in his own handwriting, according to the constitution.

Will the chief minister’s resignation be acceptable if he is illiterate and does not know how to write by hand? The chief justice raised an objection.

The petitioner argued that the government’s acceptance of an unlawful resignation by the chief minister was an unconstitutional act in and of itself.

He said that because the old chief minister’s resignation was invalid, all following actions, including the election of Hamza Shehbaz as the province’s new chief minister, were equally unconstitutional.

The petitioner sought the court to overturn the governor’s unconstitutional acceptance of Buzdar’s resignation and reinstate him as Punjab’s chief minister. He also sought the court to stop Hamza Shehbaz from acting as a judge.