Punjab CM-elect: President asked to appoint representative for administrating oath

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court chief justice on Friday asked the president of Pakistan to nominate any person for administration of oath to newly-elected Chief Minister Punjab Hamza Shahbaz.

Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti passed these directions in a petition of chief minister-elect Hamza Shahbaz wherein he had challenged the reluctance of the Punjab governor to administer oath to him as chief minister Punjab.

The chief justice directed the office to transmit the court order through fax to the office of president for its placement before the President of Pakistan for exercising the power provided under Article 104 of the constitution for nomination of another person, keeping in view the peculiar circumstances when the governor Punjab has refused to administer oath to newly-elected chief minister.

The chief justice observed that it is expected from the president of Pakistan that he will resolve/ decide the matter of nomination of any person keeping in view the fact that people of the province of Punjab are already suffering on account of non-functional provincial government for the last 21-days.

It is also hoped that the president of Pakistan will not wait for the letter of the governor as under Article 130 of the Constitution he has no authority to exercise any option except to ask the newly-elected chief minister to assume the office by administering oath promptly, the chief justice added.

Earlier, the advocate general Punjab appeared before the court and stated that the governor of the Punjab has instructed him to inform this court about his inability to administer oath; however, he failed to provide any reasonable ground in this regard. The chief justice granted him time till 11 am and asked him to produce the letter to be addressed to the president of Pakistan by the governor.

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The advocate general appeared before the court again and informed that although the governor has decided not to administer the oath but he has not written the letter in this regard to the president of Pakistan so far, however, he was uncertain about the time period. The chief justice granted another opportunity to obtain the instructions about the time needed by the governor for writing the letter to the president of Pakistan expressing his inability to administer the oath.

The advocate general appeared before the court after obtaining the instructions from the governor at 2:00 am and informed the court that the letter would be dispatched to the president within 24 hours expressing his inability to administer oath to the new-elected chief minister. The chief justice said the court is proceeding with petition as the governor Punjab was not performing his constitutional duty.

The chief justice said the governor had no reasons to refuse to administer oath to the chief minister-elect. He said the court is restraining itself from giving its verdict only in wait of action by the executive.

The chief justice asked the advocate general to inform the governor about the seriousness of the situation and tell him how important it is to write to take oath or to refuse to do so.

The advocate general said the governor had to write the letter, not me, and added that the governor is not answerable to the court. He would send his reasons of not taking oath of chief minister-elect to president of Pakistan, the AG added.

The chief justice said the province of the Punjab is running without the chief minister for the last 21 days and added the governor should write to concerned authority immediately. The top judge said if the governor refused to take oath of chief minister-elect then court would ask the other person to administer oath to the chief minister-elect.

The advocate general said if the governor refuses to administer oath to the chief minister-elect then under the constitution the Speaker Punjab Assembly could perform this constitutional duty.

The AG said the governor believes that as the deputy speaker did not perform his duty in accordance with law, hence the election of chief minister was not held in accordance with the constitution. On this, the chief justice said it is not duty of the governor to observe whether the election was held in accordance with law or not.

The AG said the governor is not a rubber stamp. “There was an extraordinary situation during the election. A woman member provincial assembly was injured seriously and is fighting for life.” The chief justice asked the law officer whether in such a situation the assembly proceedings become null and void.

The chief justice said the election was held under the court’s orders and he knew how the election was held.

The AG said they did not want to delay the matter but the situation was worst and suggested the chief justice to see the footages of the assembly proceedings.

The chief justice said the matter of election proceedings was not before him. The matter is about administration of oath to the chief minister-elect. The judge; however, asked the president to appoint someone for administration of oath to the new-elected chief executive of the province without waiting for letter of the governor Punjab.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022