PTI’s return to NA: Verdict reserved on maintainability plea

The petitioner states the PTI MNAs had voluntarily tendered their resignations

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday reserved till April 13 its verdict on the maintainability of petition challenging the return of PTI MNAs to parliament.

A division bench comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamer Farooq reserved their verdict after the petitioner concluded his arguments over the maintainability of the petition.

When the case was taken up, the bench asked the petitioner to satisfy the court on the petition’s maintainability.

In his arguments, recently-retired Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Zafar Ali Shah posited that Imran Khan and his party members were not entitled to sit in the National Assembly because they had submitted written resignations. Some eight months ago, all MNAs from the party had resigned from the National Assembly, making their return unconstitutional, he argued.

To the questions under what law made the case maintainable, Shah said that under Article 64 of the Constitution, there was no requirement for the speaker to accept a resignation, while the article also provides for the right to vacate the seat of a member who had been absent for more than 40 consecutive days of sittings.

The petitioner stated that the PTI MNAs had voluntarily tendered their resignations, and the Constitution was very clear on the subject. He maintained that once an MNA resigns from the assembly, he or she is no longer a part of the lower house.

Justice Minallah remarked that the matter appeared to be an internal issue for the NA. He asked the senator if a member of the upper house would have the right to approach a court when the senate chairman refuses to consider his or her motion.

To this, Shah said that it was a public issue and the parliamentarians had made constitution and law “a laughingstock”. He added that the PTI members had never suggested that their resignations were coerced or involuntarily.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 10^th, 2015.