Punjab caretaker setup: Panel to consult legal experts on naming more candidates

Advice has already been sought from the Punjab law secretary and advocate general.

LAHORE:

A committee mulling over the appointment of Punjab’s caretaker chief minister agreed on Sunday to enlist the opinions of legal experts on the issue of expanding the panel’s role and considering candidates other than those proposed.

The six-member panel, which met at the Punjab Assembly Secretariat on Sunday, stated that the committee’s role should be expanded and they should be allowed to pore over more names other than the ones suggested by the provincial government and its opposition.

The parliamentary committee, including representatives of the provincial government Rana Sanaullah Khan, Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, Iqbal Channer and Zulfiqar Gondal, Shaukat Mehmood Basra and Chaudhry Zahiruddin Khan from the opposition, has already sought advice from the Punjab law secretary and advocate general, summoning them to the panel’s session on Monday.

However, the panel members made clear that if there are any legal implications they would restrict themselves to contemplating the four names proposed by the former leader of the house ex-chief minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif and former leader of the opposition Raja Riaz.



The proposed names of candidates include Justice (r) Aamir Raza Khan and Khawaja Zaheer suggested by the Punjab government and senior journalist Najam Sethi and former chief justice of the Lahore High Court Justice (r) Syed Zahid Hussain Bukhari by the provincial opposition.

According to sources, one of opposition’s members, Chaudhry Zahirudin Khan, had raised the point that the mandate of the committee should be increased, such that names other than the proposed nominees could be taken into consideration. Rana Sanaullah, who was elected chairman on the first day of the session, will be replaced by a member of the opposition panel on the second day of the meeting.

Chaudhry Zahirudin Khan said that the rules and regulations of how to run committee’s business would also be followed by the rules of the committee on appointment of a caretaker prime minister.

Sanaullah elaborated the panel’s stance saying that the committee will deliberate over the four suggested names on Monday and would announce its final decision on Tuesday.

If the committee fails to develop consensus during the next two days, the matter will then be referred to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2013.