“The High Court cannot declare any member ineligible until the disqualification of the leader of the house is decided,” says the petitioner's counsel. PHOTO: FILE
A lawyer defending an MPA with an allegedly fake degree argued on Wednesday that his client could not be disqualified whilst the Supreme Court had yet to decide whether Shahbaz Sharif was eligible to be chief minister.
“The High Court cannot declare any member ineligible until the disqualification of the leader of the house is decided,” said the counsel for Safdar Gill, MPA for PP-274 Bahawalpur.
A petition seeking the chief minister’s disqualification is pending before the Supreme Court.
Justice Muhammad Khalid Mahmood Khan was hearing a petition moved by Manwar Ahmad, a voter, seeking the disqualification of the independent MPA on the grounds that he used a fake degree in order to qualify to run for his seat.
The court sought fresh arguments on March 27 on the question of whether a member of the house could be disqualified while the eligibility of its leader was under question in a court.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 14th, 2013.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ