Dost Mohammad Mazari, the deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly, did not turn up before the Supreme Court on Friday in response to a petition submitted by PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi contesting his decision during the re-election of the chief minister the previous day.
The petition was heard by a larger bench presided over by Pakistan’s Chief Justice, Umar Ata Bandial. Justice Muneeb and justice Ijazul Ahsan were also part of the bench.
Elahi’s attorney argued that the PML-Q votes were rejected in the second round of voting for the position of the chief minister which was held yesterday because the deputy speaker passed an “illegal ruling” after receiving a letter from Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain ordering the party’s MPAs to support PML-N nominee Hamza Shehbaz as the proceedings got underway at the Lahore Registry of SC today.
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During the hearing, Chief Justice remarked that there is no such thing in their 17th May decision about the interpretation of article 62 which Deputy Speaker mentioned in his yesterday’s ruling. “We are here to learn and will summon the deputy speaker so that he could identify the paragraph from the apex court’s decision which he used to decide on the matter,” he said.
سپریم کورٹ نے وز یراعلیٰ حمزہ شہباز کا یکم جولائی کا اسٹیٹس بحال کر دیا
آج سے حمزہ شہباز ایک بات پھر عبوری وزیر اعلی ٰہوں گے#ARYNews #SC #HamzaShahbaz pic.twitter.com/c4A51KTchB— ARY NEWS (@ARYNEWSOFFICIAL) July 23, 2022
In the short order issued earlier in the day before the break the learned council said “The viewpoint of Deputy Speaker does not give or pinpoint the precise observation made by this court in its aforesaid order on which reliance has been placed.”
Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan said that the party head could only report on the disobedience of the orders by the parliamentary party. “It is a democratic tradition that the parliamentary party decides on the matters within the assemblies.”
Hamza Shehbaz as trustee chief minister
After hearing the arguments of Irfan Qadir Advocate on behalf of the Deputy Speaker, the Full Bench has remarked that the Deputy Speaker’s ruling in prima facie is contrary to the decision of the Supreme Court.
The full bench has ordered that Hamza Shahbaz will perform the duties of trustee chief minister till July 25.
The court has ordered that the Chief Minister’s powers will be limited and if appointments are made contrary to merit, they will be canceled.
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The Supreme Court has further ordered that the Chief Minister will not do anything for any political gain or incentive for his party. The full bench has adjourned the proceedings on the petition against Rowling till July 25 and will hear it in Islamabad on Monday.
During the day, PDM led the government pressurized Supreme Court through multiple press conferences and tweets to form a full court bench to hear the case against Deputy Speaker’s ruling.