1. ' NADEEM AZHAR SIDDIQI, J.---This judgment will dispose of Election Appeals bearing Nos. 52 and 53 of 2007, as they arise out of the common order.
2. ' The present appeals are directed against the orders dated 30-11-2007 by which the nomination papers of the appellant have been rejected..
3. ' The reasons for rejection of the nomination papers of the appellant are that the appellant is an employee of United Bank Limited in which the Government has 49% shares.
4. ' The bank officer is present and filed statement. The officer has also filed a statement showing the details of shares held by various groups which show that the Government of Pakistan has 19.756% holding and that out of seven directors only two are nominated by the Government of Pakistan.
5. ' The learned counsel for the appellant submits that mere share-holding of the Government is not enough unless it is shown that the Government has control over the organization and has also controlling shares.
6. ' The learned A.A-G. For the State has not supported the order of the Retuning Officer and submits that from the statement of the bank it appears that the Government has only 19% share and mere share-holding is not sufficient to debar the candidate from contesting the election.
7. ' We have perused the statement of the bank in which they submit that the appellant is unauthorizedly absent from his duty and without NOC of the bank cannot contest the election. This has nothing to do with the appeal and the bank is at liberty to proceed against the appellant if so advised.
8. ' We have heard the learned counsel for the parties, perused the record of this case and the relevant laws.
9. ' Clause (e) of subsection (1A) of section 99 of the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1976, provides as under:-- (1 A) A person shall be disqualified , from being elected as, and from being a member of an Assembly if
(e) he is in the service of any statutory body or anybody which is owned or controlled by the Government or in which the Government has a controlling share or interest.
10. ' The Hon'ble Supreme Court of Pakistan in the reported cases of (1) Ghulam Rasool v. Muhammad Hayyat (PLD 1994 SC 385) and (2) Sabiruddin v. Mushtaq Hussain Bhatti (PLD 1994 SC 412) has dealt with the issue and has held that unless it is shown that the Government has control or having controlling share or interest the candidate cannot be disqualified from contesting election.
11. ' The Bank Officer, who is present in Court, submits that except nominating two directors the Government has no other control over the day to day management of the bank.
12. ' In an earlier decision of Haji Khan Bhatti v. Returning Officer, NA-211 in Election Appeal No, 08 of 2007, we have held that mere fact that Government has shares would not entail disqualification.
13. ' In this case also, there is no evidence that the Government has controlling share or interest in the bank.
14. ' Above are the reasons of the short order dated 13-12-2007 by which we had allowed the appeal filed by the appellant in the following manner:- ' "We have heard the learned counsel for the parties. For the reasons to be recorded later on these appeals, are allowed and the Returning Officer is directed to accept the nomination of the appellants if they are otherwise qualified to contest the election. "