SC hands Punjab back to Shahbaz
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court restored PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif as Chief Minister of Punjab on Tuesday, a day before the provincial assembly was called to choose his successor to the office which he had lost as a consequence of a ruling by the court on February 25.
‘We direct that till final disposal of the main petitions under review, the operation of February 25, 2009 shall remain suspended and the petitioner (Shahbaz Sharif) shall assume the chief minister’s office with immediate effect,’ Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani ruled while handing down a unanimous but detailed order after day’s proceedings on the application moved by Shahbaz Sharif requesting to grant status quo ante.
The five-member bench comprised Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, Justice Mohammad Moosa K. Leghari, Justice Sheikh Hakim Ali and Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed.
On February 25, a three-judge bench had disqualified the Sharif brothers from holding or contesting for public offices. Consequently Shahbaz Sharif had to vacate his office of the chief minister while the elder brother Nawaz Sharif was barred from contesting elections thus shifting the bitter political bitterness to the streets.
Tuesday’s order was heard in a pin-drop silence in a packed court room where the atmosphere become scintillating when the five-member bench dictated the last paragraph of otherwise a longish order enveloping all aspects of the arguments advanced during the day by the counsel of the two sides.
And the moment the bench rose for the day, senior PML-N politicians, party supporters and lawyers walked out of the court to join a bigger crowd of supporters at the gates of the Supreme Court, celebrating and distributing sweets to welcome the restoration of their leader.
‘This court can not remain oblivious of the likely inconvenience and the irreparable loss which is to accrue to the petitioner (Shahbaz Sharif), an apprehension also not disputed by Attorney General Sardar Mohammad Latif Khan Khosa,’ the court noted in its order that concerned only with the disqualification of Shahbaz Sharif.
As to the electoral eligibility of Nawaz Sharif, the court will resume hearing on a set of review petitions moved by the federal government as well as the Sharifs after May 7.
‘It is quite an unusual order as such order is not expected on review petitions,’ commented a lawyer on condition of anonymity.
While accepting constitutional petition of Syed Khurram Shah, the order said, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had not passed any injunctive order against Shahbaz Sharif not to continue as the chief minister. The new circumstance when the governor rule has already been lifted and the provincial assembly has been called on Wednesday and likely to elect the new chief minister has changed the complexion of this case.
The bench observed that while issuing notices to the respondents on the review petition, the court had kept in view the fact that the petitioner was preceded ex-parte although he did not appear despite issuance of notices. However the court has granted relief of full hearing on the review petitions that involved interpretation of Section 14 (6) of the Representation of Peoples Act 1976 on which the federal government had also taken exception and the issue raised needed consideration of this court.
Despite reversing the order of the Chief Election Commissioner allowing the petitioner to contest the elections, the high court had allowed Shahbaz Sharif to continue as the chief minister, the order said.
It said the returning officer had declared Shahbaz Sharif to be qualified to contest the election from the constituency PP-48 Bhakkar-II while the objection petition filed by Khurram Shah was also dismissed by the election commission.
On the Chief Executive order 19 of 2002 that bars the prime minister and the chief ministers to hold their respective offices for the third time the attorney general said if the chief minister was restored by the court, it would not be considered a third occasion but a continuation in the office after a short break.
He conceded that the provision was injected in the constitution through the Seventeenth Constitutional Amendment and since it was protected under schedule six of the constitution, it could not be redone without the approval of the president.
He referred to the recent speech of President Asif Ali Zardari to the joint sitting of the two houses of the parliament and said a new constitutional package was in the offing with the consultation of all the political parties to delete provisions interjected by the military leader.
Advocate Ahmed Raza Qasuri, representing Syed Khurram Shah opposed the request to suspend the disqualification order by stating that if someone was in a doldrums, this court had no business to take him out by granting a status quo.
Earlier the same bench also dismissed an application moved by Advocate Qasuri requesting to include the third judge who was member of the earlier bench that had disqualified the Sharifs and held that the chief justice had already exercised his prerogative of constituting benches.
Qasuri had emphasized that presently the environment in the country was such that every thing was interpreted in a wrong way and the issues like the long march and the restoration of pre-emergency judiciary were all linked together.
Deputy Attorney General Agha Tariq Mehmood represented the federal government, Khawaja Haris appeared on behalf of Shahbaz Sharif and Dr Mohyuddin also argued on the occasion.
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