Disqualification of PM: SC to decide pleas’ maintainability

Justice Khawaja says PTI leader‘s appeal against registrar office decision might be decided by Thursday

ISLAMABAD:

The apex court has said it will decide the maintainability of petitions – seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in view of Article 62(f) of the Constitution – on Thursday.

Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, who heads the Supreme Court’s three-judge bench, said on Tuesday that the court had already issued notice to attorney general of Pakistan to get assistance about the maintainability of the case.

He also observed that a recommendation might be sent to the SC’s chief justice for the formation of a larger bench to hear the case.

The apex court had taken Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s (PML-Q) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) petitions regarding the disqualification of the PM. The petitions argued that the PM should be disqualified as he had allegedly lied before the National Assembly.

They claimed that the premier first asked the army chief General Raheel Sharif to act as a ‘mediator’ between the government and protesting parties – the PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and to serve as a ‘guarantor’ to any agreement – but later denied this on the floor of the house.

Earlier, the PTI’ counsel Irfan Qadir told the bench that they had filed an appeal on Monday against the registrar office’s decision to reject their plea, seeking the recusal of the head of the bench – Justice Khawaja.

A member of the bench, Justice Faiz Isa, told Qadir that his plea had already been decided by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Nasirul Mulk. However, the counsel replied that the CJ had only decided the plea regarding the Constitution of a larger bench.

“It is not the chief justice but the concerned bench, which decides the request for the recusal of a judge,” he added.

The counsel said this matter was of public importance and the court had already formed larger benches in high-profile cases, including the contempt case regarding former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani as well as Zulfikar Ali Bhutto reference.

Justice Khawaja said the PTI leader‘s appeal against the registrar office decision might be decided by tomorrow (Thursday).

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2014.