ISLAMABAD: The Speaker National Assembly, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, on Wednesday sent a missive to Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, requesting the higher judiciary to “exercise restraint” and respect the parliament’s legislative domain.
During Wednesday’s session in the evening, it was decided that the NA would write a letter to the top judge of the country.
The NA speaker had said that he would write a letter to the CJP and other top court judges to convey the “sentiments and thoughts” of members of the House about the court’s orders on elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as well as, the release of funds in this regard.
Ashraf had announced the decision after taking “sense of the House” — expressed by members by thumping of desks — and on the call of several lawmakers, particularly the PML-N’s Muhammad Barjees Tahir, who asserted parliament’s supremacy.
In a late night development, the NA speaker, in a five-page letter, said: “The SC must, as far as possible, avoid getting involved in the political thicket. It is best to leave resolution of political matters by the parliament and the political parties”.
“I, on behalf of the NA of Pakistan, urge the honourable chief justice and judges of the supreme court to exercise restraint, and respect the legislative domain of parliament”, he added.
“We must work together to uphold the Constitution, protect the democratic values and work within our respective constitutional domains to ensure that confrontation between the organs of the state is avoided and the constitutional order is maintained,” he said.
At the outset of the letter, the speaker said he was writing to convey the “profound concern and unease” of the country’s elected representatives regarding some recent decisions by the top courts as well as some comments made by some judges.
He said that the house felt that the “recent decisions” amounted to encroaching on its two core constitutional functions, i.e., lawmaking and power of the purse.
Citing Article 73 of the Constitution, the NA speaker said he was writing to convey the assembly’s “profound concern and deep unease” regarding the orders passed by the three-judge SC bench, in which, it directed the central bank, the Finance Division and the government to allocate/ release Rs21bn to the ECP. He went on to say that by doing so, the bench had ignored the fact that the NA had passed a resolution against the SC’s decision to quash the ECP’s decision to delay polls in Punjab till October and had rejected the Charged Sums for General Elections (Provincial Assemblies of the Punjab and KP) Bill, while the NA standing committee had directed the Finance Division to seek the assembly’s prior approval.
“It is sadly noted that the three-member bench’s orders have completely disregarded the constitutional process and the prerogative of the NA with respect to financial matters,” he added.
He said that the bench “appeared to be in a hurry” and had, therefore, given “unusual directions” to the government to authorise the expenditure of Rs21bn from the Federal Consolidated Fund “and then present it as fait accompli to the NA”.
“The ex-post facto rejection of this amount by the NA, which will most certainly happen, would make this authorisation, albeit on court orders, unconstitutional and will surely lead to untoward consequences for the federal government.
“The NA notes with great concern that despite knowing the consequences and effects of such prior authorisation, which will be rejected by the NA when presented for ex-post facto approval, the three-judge bench of the SC has threatened the federal government of ‘serious consequences’ for not authorising the expenditure of Rs21bn.
“This, the NA notes with great dismay, is an attempt to undermine the NA and amounts to breakdown of the constitutional order. The NA is quite clear that such direction is an impermissible intrusion into the exclusive jurisdiction and authority of the NA, a breach of its privilege,” he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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