Perks and privileges: SHC issues notice to federal govt in PTI resignations case

Petitioner argues that PTI legislators are ineligible to claim benefits after resigning from NA.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued a notice on Wednesday to the deputy attorney-general (DAG) on a petition seeking to withhold the allowances and privileges being extended to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) legislators even after resigning from their National Assembly (NA) seats.

The bench also, however, directed petitioner Rana Faizul Hasan to argue the maintainability of his plea before the SHC, as the NA is located in Islamabad. Hasan, the general secretary of the NGO United Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, asserted that the expenses of the NA have crossed the figure of Rs23 billion owing to the special benefits claimed by legislators.

The petitioner said that 34 PTI lawmakers had submitted their resignations to the speaker of the NA but they had not been accepted yet. He argued that according to Article 64-A of the Constitution, whoever submits his or her signed resignation is liable to have it accepted with immediate effect. Subsequently, he or she is ineligible to enjoy the benefits, he added.

Hasan stated that the PTI legislators were still claiming allowances and privileges even after resigning from their seat, which was a violation of the Constitution. He pleaded to the court to therefore issue directives for the NA speaker to withhold all benefits from PTI lawmakers.

Headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, the bench issued a notice to the DAG to file the comments of the federal government in this regard by December 3. Meanwhile, the judges also asked Hasan to satisfy them about the maintainability of the petition on the next date of hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2014.