SC restores Hamza Shahbaz's status as 'interim Punjab CM'
Pakistan
SC restores Hamza Shahbaz's status as "interim Punjab CM"
LAHORE (Dunya News) – Supreme Court of Pakistan on Saturday while restoring July 1 status has made Hamza Shahbaz as interim Punjab Chief Minister.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Umar Ata Bandial read out the short verdict.
In its verdict, the top court restored Hamza Shahbaz’s July 1 of interim CM. The court observed that if the words of the party chief are to be believed, it would mean that a dictatorship should be established in the party.
The CJP remarked that in prima facie, the Deputy Speaker gave a ruling against our decision, we have our decision in which this law has been declared.
The court ordered the Deputy Speaker to submit a written reply and said that it should be told on what basis he gave the ruling, and the Punjab government should also submit its detailed written reply.
The court ordered Hamza Shahbaz to work as per the law and constitution and also ordered him to only perform routine affairs.
The top court also barred Hamza Shehbaz from exercising the powers of the Chief Minister till July 25 which could benefit him politically and remarked that the court will supervise the affairs of the Chief Minister.
The court observed that if any appointment in the province is made without merit will be declared null and void. The court adjourned the hearing till Monday.
Earlier today, the apex court had summoned Hamza Shahbaz, attorney general, chief secretary Punjab and advocate general Punjab, and further directed the deputy speaker to bring the record of the CM Punjab election.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan had constituted a bench on Tuesday to hear Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi’s plea against the rejection of votes of PML-Q MPs by the Deputy Speaker in the Punjab Assembly (PA) Session of Punjab Chief Minister Election.
During the hearing, the chief justice remarked that there was nothing in their decision that the deputy speaker mentioned during the assembly proceedings. "We are here to learn and will summon the deputy speaker so that he could identify the paragraph from the apex court’s decision which he used to decide on the matter," he said.
On the occasion, Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan said that the party head could only report on the violation of the orders by the parliamentary party. "It is a democratic tradition that the parliamentary party decides on the matters within the assemblies," he added.
Pervaiz Elahi filed the petition against the ruling of Deputy Speaker Punjab Assembly Dost Mazari and Hamza Shahbaz along with the Chief Secretary are parties in the case.
Earlier on Saturday, the Supreme Court’s (SC) Lahore Registry was opened at midnight after the election of the Punjab Chief Minister.
Pervaiz Elahi, who was the joint candidate of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and PML-Q for the post of Punjab Chief Minister, reached the Supreme Court’s Lahore Registry along with lawmakers of both the parties to file the petition.
The petition against the Deputy Speaker Punjab Assembly ruling was filed on behalf of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi which was received by the deputy registrar Supreme Court’s (SC) Lahore Registry Ijaz Goraya.
