Govt picks holes in LHC reprieve, seeks SC suo motu

Ministers seek SC’s suo motu on Elahi’s reinstatement

LAHORE:

The PML-N on Saturday rejected the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) decision to restore Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi as the Punjab chief minister, saying it “did not meet the requirements of justice”, and urged the Supreme Court to review the verdict and take suo motu to “save the province from turmoil”.

A day earlier, the LHC had suspended Governor Balighur Rehman’s de-notification order and restored Elahi as the Punjab CM and his cabinet on the assurance that he would not dissolve the provincial assembly until January 11 – the date till the hearing of the case is adjourned.

Rehman had issued an order in the wee hours of Friday to de-notify the chief minister after Elahi did not take a vote of confidence from the provincial assembly by Wednesday as ordered by the governor on Monday.

Elahi had challenged the governor’s order in the LHC. During the hearing of the chief minister’s de-notification case, Elahi gave a written assurance to the court that he would not dissolve the provincial assembly till January 11 if he was reinstated as the chief minister.

On Saturday, Minister for Railways and Aviation Khawaja Saad Rafique held a news conference at the party secretariat in Model Town, Lahore.

He was flanked by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, PML-N leader Attaullah Tarar and PML-Q leader Tariq Bashir Cheema.

Rafique stated that LHC’s decision to reinstate Elahi “did not meet the requirements of justice”, adding that there were “flaws” in it and hinted that the PML-N would “most likely” challenge the decision. "No institution could deviate from the Constitution," he stressed.

The minister said that the LHC had adjourned the hearing of the case for 18 days during which there was “fear of horse-trading”.

Rafique noted that Elahi will have to take the vote of confidence, adding that skipping the process would mean that the incumbent Punjab government did not have the majority in the house.

“The present Punjab government is not an elected government but only based on a stay order,” he added.

The interior minister while addressing the presser maintained that assemblies were constitutional institutions, stressing that they should be respected and not “turned into a joke”.

“If the assemblies are being dissolved due to someone's stubbornness and ego, it is the duty of the governor to at least ask for a vote of confidence,” Sanaullah said.

The interior minister noted that the court had granted “complete relief” to Elahi in the form of “interim relief”.

Requesting the apex court to review the LHC decision and take suo motu notice, Sanaullah said it was likely that the verdict to restore Elahi would create legal, constitutional, and economic complications which would “seriously affect the province”.

“As there is an apprehension of horse-trading, the court should have allowed only day-to-day matters under Article 133 in interim relief,” he said.

Sanaullah said that the current Punjab government did not have sufficient numbers and would not be able to take the vote of confidence.

“If the provincial (Punjab) government dissolves the assembly after taking a vote of confidence then provincial assembly elections will be held.”

He observed that the PML-N was “fully prepared” for the elections but demanded that the chief minister should take a vote of confidence before dissolving the assembly.

The interior minister alleged that after getting relief from the court, the Elahi-led government had started to “plunder national exchequer as it launched a recent project to loot billions of rupees”.

He said that now the chief minister would allow his party members to earn millions of rupees from various developmental contracts so that ‘horse trading' could become possible.

"We along with our allies may challenge the LHC's decision about restoration of CM and cabinet," he maintained.

PML-N to approach SC

Meanwhile, sources said the PML-N has decided to approach the Supreme Court in its bid to challenge the Lahore High Court’s verdict reinstating Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi.

The decision came after the party’s members of the Punjab assembly met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at his residence in Lahore.

Federal Minister Rana Sanaullah, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Saad Rafique, Attaullah Tarar and others, discussed the LHC order and the overall political situation of Punjab.

PML-Q’s Tariq Basheer Cheema was also present in the high-level meeting where the decision to challenge Elahi’s reinstatement was taken.

The legal eagles of the ruling party also prepared a draft of the petition to be submitted to the top court against the LHC’s order.

The meeting expressed reservation over the LHC order and decided to challenge it in the top court after completing a consultation with the legal team, sources added.