ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) said any error in an elected representative’s disqualification judgment results in irreparable harm and the parliament can create its own mechanism for holding representatives accountable.
A single bench of Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Thursday issued its detailed judgment in a matter, wherein, it had already turned down the petitions seeking the disqualification of former president Asif Ali Zardari and former federal minister Fawad Chaudhary as members of the Parliament.
PTI leader Usman Dar and PTI MPA from Karachi Khurram Sher Zaman, had filed petition and sought disqualification of Zardari. In another petition, the eligibility of Fawad Chaudhary was challenged on the allegation of not declaring his assets.
The chief justice wrote that disqualification under Article 62 (1)(f) has profound implications. The Parliament can form its own mechanism of self-accountability for the elected representatives.
The judgment said that Fawad and Zardari are not convicted by any court and disqualification of both public representatives has been sought on disputed facts. It continued that determining the disputed facts requires investigation and political opponents of both representatives will benefit during the investigation.
It also said that if both are declared eligible after the investigation, there will be no compensation for them for the damage they suffered and courts’ involvement in such investigations undermines public confidence in the elected representatives.
The IHC said that the courts getting into these matters also wastes the time of ordinary litigants. Referring to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Khawaja Asif’s disqualification, Justice Minallah stated that he was disqualified by the same court but the Supreme Court accepted his appeal seven months later.
He maintained that however, in the meanwhile, the people residing in Khawaja Asif’s constituency remained deprived of representation and he had to face political loss and infamy. He emphasized that the people should be empowered to decide who will represent them and that only the people can decide which elected representative is honest and trustworthy.
PTI leaders, Khurram Sher Zaman, Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Sindh and Usman Dar filed two identical constitutional petitions against PPP Co-Chairman Asif Zardari under Article 184(3) of Constitution through their counsel Advocate Sikandar Bashir Mohmand and cited Asif Ali Zardari Member National Assembly (MNA), Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and secretary National Assembly as respondents.
In their petition, they contended that Zardari is neither honest nor ameen nor righteous nor sagacious in terms of Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution and also Section 231 of the Election Act. Therefore, respondent No1 (Asif Zardari) is not qualified to be elected or chosen as a Member of the National Assembly (MNA).
Similarly, in the matter of Fawad Chaudhary, the petitioner, an anchor for a private TV channel, claimed in his petition that the minister concealed his assets when declaring them to the ECP and hence, should be disqualified under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution.
“Fawad Chauhdry with mala-fide intention and ulterior motives, concealed his assets, cost of assets and provided wrong and false statement of his own and spouses’ assets and their cost in Form-B(statement of Assets and Liabilities) along with nomination papers,” said the petition.
It prayed before the court to disqualify the minister under Article 62 (1) (f) from holding public office as he had not disclosed documents containing his proprietary information. It also requested the court to order lodging of a criminal case against him and the withdrawal of all privileges granted to him as a minister.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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