Ashraf urges judges to stop ‘undermining’ parliament

National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Wednesday wrote a letter to the chief justice of Pakistan and other judges informing them about the concerns of the MNAs over the Supreme Court “undermining” the authority of the House.

He asked the higher judiciary to “respect the legislative domain of parliament” and “exercise restraint”.

The speaker wrote that he wanted to convey the “profound concern and unease” of the country’s elected representatives about the recent decisions by the SC and some comments made by its judges.

He added that the House felt that the “recent decisions” amounted to encroaching on its two core constitutional functions i.e. law making and power of the purse.

He wrote that Articles 189 and 190 of the Constitution did not require execution of the court orders.

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He added that the rejection of the request for money did not mean that the NA had no confidence in the prime minister and government.

Mentioning Article 73 of the Constitution, the NA speaker wrote that he wanted to convey the assembly’s “profound concern and deep unease” over the orders passed by a three-judge SC bench, which directed the State Bank, Finance Division and government to release Rs21 billion to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Article 73 deals with the “procedure with respect to money bills”, which are only required to be passed by the NA.

The NA speaker wrote that the bench ignored the fact that the assembly had passed a resolution against the top court’s decision to quash the ECP’s decision to delay the polls in Punjab till October and rejected the Charged Sums for General Elections (Provincial Assemblies of the Punjab and K-P) Bill.

He added that the NA standing committee had directed the Finance Division to seek the assembly’s prior approval.

“It is sadly noted that the three-member bench’s orders have completely disregarded the constitutional process and the prerogative of the NA with respect to financial matters,” he continued.

He further wrote that the bench appeared to be in a hurry and, therefore, given “unusual directions” to the government to authorise the expenditure of Rs21 billion from the Federal Consolidated Fund and then present it as fait accompli to the NA.

“The ex-post facto rejection of this amount by the NA, which will most certainly happen, would make this authorisation, albeit on court orders, unconstitutional and will surely lead to untoward consequences for the federal government,” the letter read.

“The NA notes with great concern that despite knowing the consequences and effects of such prior authorisation, which will be rejected by the NA when presented for ex-post facto approval, the three-judge bench of the SC has threatened the federal government of ‘serious consequences’ for not authorising the expenditure of Rs21 billion,” it added.

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“This, the NA notes with great dismay, is an attempt to undermine the NA and amounts to breakdown of the constitutional order. The NA is quite clear that such direction is an impermissible intrusion into the exclusive jurisdiction and authority of the NA, a breach of its privilege,” the speaker wrote.

Ashraf continued that the power of the purse belonged solely to the lower house of parliament.

He added that the NA would defend this right.

“Any attempt to circumvent and sidestep the constitutional mechanism and due process shall be repelled by the NA,” he added.

The speaker further wrote that he was also conveying the sense of the House that an “unnecessary confrontation, deeply damaging to national interest”, is being created by the repeated orders to release funds to the ECP, disregarding the express will of the NA.

Ashraf wrote that the NA would approve the expenditure for general elections to all assemblies in the annual budget for the next fiscal year.

He added that directing the executive to authorise expenditure from the Federal Consolidated Fund and seek ex-post facto approval when the NA had repeatedly rejected the demand militated against the trichotomy principle embedded in the Constitution.

“The SC must, as far as possible” avoid getting involved in political thicket. It is best to leave resolution of political matters by the parliament and the political parties,” the letter read.

“I, on behalf of the NA of Pakistan, urge the honourable chief justice and judges of the SC to exercise restraint, and respect the legislative domain of parliament,” the speaker added.

“We must work together to uphold the Constitution, protect democratic values and work within our respective constitutional domains to ensure that confrontation between the organs of the state is avoided and constitutional order is maintained,” he concluded.

Earlier in the day during the NA session, the speaker told the MNAs that he would convey their concerns to the CJP as well as other judges of the SC through a letter.

His statement came after PML-N’s Muhammad Barjees Tahir’s told the House that MNAs had the authority to call anyone before the House’s committee on rules of procedure and privileges.

“We don’t want judges to be called before the committee,” he added.

The PML-N MNA recalled that the lawmakers had also called former president Farooq Leghari before the committee.

Later, Ashraf announced that he would write a letter to the judges amid desk-thumping by the members.