LAHORE: A sessions court on Monday reserved verdict on the maintainability of a defamation suit moved by Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif against Prime Minister Imran Khan claiming damages for levelling false allegations against him.

Mr Sharif had filed the suit on July 8, 2017 when he was chief minister of Punjab and Mr Khan being head of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) at a press conference in Islamabad accused Mr Sharif of offering him Rs10 billion through a common friend for withdrawing case of Panama Papers from the Supreme Court.

In his suit, Mr Sharif said that Mr Khan at the press conference levelled baseless allegation against him. He sought a decree for recovery of Rs10bn as compensation from Imran Khan for publication of defamatory content.

Opposing the suit on technical grounds, the legal team of Mr Khan challenged jurisdiction of the Lahore`s sessions court to hear the defamation suit. It argued that the press conference of Mr Khan, questioned by the plaintiff, was held in Islamabad and a court of Lahore lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter. It asked the court to dismiss the suit for being not maintainable.

The counsel for Mr Sharif, however, argued that the technical grounds did not restrain the court from hearing the suit. He said the suit should be decided on its merits instead of technicalities.

After hearing the arguments, Additional District & Sessions Judge Muhammad Amjad Khan reserved verdict on the point of the court`s jurisdiction to hear the matter.