Reverse gear for Hamza

Judicial review at the apex court’s Lahore Registry has apparently sealed the fate of Hamza Shehbaz. His chief ministership 2.0 lasted for merely a couple of hours, as the honourable bench under the Chief Justice of Pakistan restored the July 1 order, thus making the incumbent once again an interim chief executive.

This was so as the Deputy Speaker failed to appear before the court, and his lawyer struggled to establish the writ of his client’s yester-night ruling as per dictates of law and constitution. As the petition against the impugned ruling, rejecting the 10 votes of PML-Q in favour of Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, came up for hearing, the apex court’s frame of mind revolved around a single point i.e. whether it is ordained by its earlier decision or not.

The bench repeatedly observed on Saturday that the deputy speaker ruling is ultra vires, per se, and the authority to decide affairs rested with the Parliamentary leader and not the party chief. This made the case an open and shut affair, but the court made it a point to deliberate deeply into the important constitutional provision and put to rest the discord that had kicked off since last night developments on the floor of the Punjab Assembly. While the Supreme Court will decide the legitimacy of the Deputy Speaker’s ruling in due course of time, what has emerged is that it stands in contravention to law.

The 186 MPs who knocked at the doors of the august court on Friday night have written a new chapter in seeking constitutional review. The candid briefs from the bench that the application of mind by legislators in a weird manner, as they go on to interpret the constitutional matter, is a humble warning to read between the lines before going over the brink. This is what the Deputy Speaker did as he held the ‘advisory letter’ from Chaudhry Shujaat in his custody and did not feel like taking the house in confidence, well before the vote was conducted.

The court’s insistence to see the letter and stand with its premise that the Parliamentary leader is the sole decision-maker in the house has sent the ball rolling. Pervez Elahi is now much nearer to his elected high office, and what is needed is a semblance of order in and out of the legislature.