The Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Asim Hafeez remarked on Wednesday that a chief minister should always have round-the-clock support from a majority of lawmakers in the house, Aaj News reported.
The remarks came during the hearing of a petition filed by Chief Minister Parvez Elahi challenging Governor Balighur Rehman’s orders to de-notify him as the provincial chief executive.
A five-member bench comprising him, Justice Abid Aziz Shaikh, Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh, and Justice Muzamil Akhtar Shabir heard the case.
At the previous hearing, the LHC had restored Punjab CM Elahi and the provincial cabinet after suspending the governor’s de-notification order.
During today’s proceedings, Elahi’s lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar argued that the governor cannot ask CM to take trust as his rights are limited.
At this, Justice Asim Hafeez remarked that the governor has the authority to advise the chief minister to take a vote of confidence from the assembly.
“A chief minister should always have the support of 186 members,” he observed.
As the hearing went continued, Justice Abid Aziz Shaikh remarked that the vote of trust matter had not yet been solved.
To which the governor’s lawyer said that the issue will only be resolved once CM Parvez Elahi takes the vote of confidence. He said Elahi had a lot of time to take the trust vote after the previous hearing but he chose against it.
At this, Justice Shaikh turned to Elahi’s lawyer and asked: “How many days will be suitable for you to take the vote of confidence? We will fix a time accordingly and your problem will be solved.”
The bench then asked Elahi’s lawyer if his counsel was accepting the court’s offer to set a date for the vote of confidence. To this, Barrister Zafar replied that they had rejected the offer.
Justice Shaikh said that if a consensus could not be reached between the governor and the chief minister, then the case would be heard on “merit”.
The court then extended the “temporary relief” of reinstating CM Elahi and adjourned the hearing till tomorrow (Thursday).
On December 19, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) submitted a no-confidence motion against Elahi, two days after PTI Chairman Imran Khan announced that his governments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will dissolve their assemblies on December 23.
At the previous hearing, the LHC had reinstated the PML-Q leader as the chief minister after he submitted an undertaking assuring the court that he would not dissolve the provincial assembly until the next hearing (today).
On Tuesday, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmakers stormed the Punjab Assembly and clashed with the police as the controversy around the vote of confidence continued.
The unrest came after Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah stated that Elahi and provincial Speaker Sibtain Khan had asked the police not to let opposition members enter the premises.
PML-N lawmakers storm Punjab Assembly amid CM vote of confidence saga
The doors of the assembly were closed and security guards remained on high alert after there was a commotion on Monday during which the opposition challenged the provincial chief minister to prove that he has the requisite numbers to win a vote of confidence.
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