In order to have him continue in his office, the federal government has decided to get Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin elected as senator from Punjab.
The authorities concerned have also devised a plan to get the seat of PML-N leader Ishaq Dar, who had been elected as senator from Punjab and is now in the United Kingdom, vacated.
On April 16, Prime Minister Imran Khan, instead of appointing Tarin as his adviser on finance, appointed the banking wizard as the finance minister, for which, as per law, he needed to be a member of parliament within six months.
Tarin had replaced Hammad Azhar less than a month after the latter was appointed as finance minister.
While most ministers have to be elected representatives – i.e. members of the National Assembly or Senate – there is a clause in the Constitution that allows short-term appointments of non-elected ministers.
According to clause nine of Article 91 of the constitution, a non-elected person can be appointed a federal minister for six months once during the five-year tenure of the National Assembly.
Tarin was elected as senator and had served as finance minister during the tenure of former president Asif Ali Zardari’s government.
The federal cabinet has now approved the electoral reforms amendment ordinance, which will be signed by President Arif Alvi. According to the ordinance, the seat of a parliamentarian not taking oath within 60 days will be considered vacant.
After the application of the presidential ordinance, Dar’s Senate seat will be rendered vacant on which Tarin will be elected as senator from Punjab.
The federal cabinet had earlier too approved the release of the proposed ordinance but the government at the time feared that it would not gain majority in the Punjab Assembly due to the estrangement of Jahangir Tareen group. The president then did not promulgate the ordinance.
During the same period, senior politician Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had also taken oath as Punjab Assembly member.
According to the law, Tarin is required to be elected a member of parliament before October 16.
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