The Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared ‘illegal’ on Thursday the 1980 presidential order (PO) No. 18, ruling that the Islamabad deputy commissioner does not have the authority to issue detention orders under section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order.
Under the PO, the chief commissioner of the federal capital was conferred with the powers of the provincial government.
Announcing the reserved verdict on the petitions of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Shandana Gulzar and Sharhyar Afridi, Justice Babar Sattar observed that only the federal cabinet should have the power to issue detention orders under the law.
Following the announcement of the IHC verdict, lawyer and PTI leader Babar Awan said that Justice Sattar observed that those who carried out the arrests under the law should be punished. Awan slammed the martial law era order, stating that the power conferred on the commissioner and deputy commissioner under the law was unlawful.
“The court has declared the 3MPO order illegal,” he said, adding that only the federal cabinet can pass orders in Islamabad.
Read PHC quashes all 3 MPO orders
The IHC had, on September 7, restrained the deputy commissioner of Islamabad from exercising section 3 of Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) powers until further notice.
Justice Babar Sattar ruled that the Islamabad DC cannot use the powers of Section 3 of MPO until further notice and issued a notice to the attorney general for assistance in determining the constitutionality and legality of the ordinance.
Two judicial assistants, Advocate Salahuddin Ahmed and Advocate Waqar Rana, were also appointed to provide assistance on the matter.
The high court had, in August, allowed the release of Afridi and Shandana as it heard their pleas against their prolonged detentions under the MPO ordinance.
The court had stated that it would hold city deputy commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon and a senior superintendent of police in contempt of court.
The two PTI leaders had been arrested in relation to the May 9 violence.
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