The direction taken by the court proceedings suggests that while the battle for the administrative control of the province is evenly poised, the Punjab Assembly has gained a guaranteed lease on life at least another eighteen days.
By Ahmer Kureishi
The Punjab Assembly remains indissoluble at least for now as the LHC extracted a promise from Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi that he would not move for the dissolution of the assembly until January 11, 2023.
That is the appointed next date of hearing into a constitutional petition brought by Elahi. However, the order passed by the court after Saturday’s hearing drew instant fire from both sides of the fence.
Leaders of the Governor’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) saw the ruling as prejudicial to the Governor’s constitutional mandate to require the CM to show his majority in the house, and vowed to challenge it in the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP).
Elahi’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) allies, on the other hand, pooh-poohed it for curbing a constitutionally mandated authority of the CM to send the Governor binding advice to dissolve the assembly.
As interim relief, the five-member larger bench of the LHC headed by Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh suspended an order by Governor Punjab Balighur Rehman to fire the Chief Minister and his cabinet in exercise of powers under Article 130(7) of the Constitution.
The dispute arose after PTI chief and former Prime Minister Imran Khan avowed to dissolve the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provincial assemblies on December 23 to put pressure on the federal government to announce snap general election.
The PDM countered by bringing a no-confidence motion against the CM in the Assembly. Almost simultaneously, the PDM-backed Governor ordered Elahi to secure a vote of confidence. Either of these was enough to strip the CM of his power to dissolve the Assembly.
Observers note that it will be next to impossible for the PDM to muster the numbers to carry the no-confidence motion against the CM. CM Elahi, on the other hand, is leery of secret defections among treasury members, resulting in abstentions in a vote of confidence.
The Governor’s move to sack the CM and his cabinet had come after Elahi failed to comply with a gubernatorial order issued on Monday asking him to demonstrate his majority in the provincial assembly by securing a vote of confidence within 48 hours.
Elahi’s challenge to his sacking argued that that the Governor’s authority to order the CM to demonstrate his majority was not unqualified. His counsel Barrister Ali Zafar further argued that Elahi could not secure a vote of confidence because the Speaker had not called the session based on his difference of opinion with the Governor.
Barrister Zafar further contended that the Governor had not allowed reasonable time for the vote, and that the Governor’s conclusion that the CM had lost the confidence of the majority was unreasonable. He cited case law in support of his contentions.
Representing Governor Rehman, Khalid Ishaque Advocate took to the rostrum to submit that the Governor was ready to withdraw the sacking order if CM Elahi agreed to seek a vote of confidence within seven days. He, however, contended that Elahi should undertake not to dissolve the Assembly before securing a vote of confidence.
After Elahi submitted a written undertaking in the court saying he “shall not advise the Governor to dissolve the Assembly till the next date of hearing”, the court ruled the Governor’s orders of Monday and Thursday “held in abeyance till the next date of hearing”.
The order, however, clarified that it will not preclude CM Elahi from seeking a vote of confidence of his own accord.
The direction taken by the court proceedings suggests that while the battle for the administrative control of the province is evenly poised, the Punjab Assembly is indissoluble for at least another eighteen days.
The court order may be read or downloaded below.
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