PTI asks court to dismiss ‘frivolous’ petition

PML-N’s Zafar Ali Shah has challenged the return of PTI MNAs in assembly

ISLAMABAD: The Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has requested the apex court to dismiss a ‘frivolous’ petition against the return of the party’s lawmakers in parliament.

The petition submitted by former senator of PML-N Syed Zafar Ali Shah challenges the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) dismissal of his original plea to de-seat all PTI lawmakers, who had resigned from legislative assemblies last year but returned months later.

On Tuesday, PTI’s counsel Hamid Khan in his reply asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the plea against the April 14 ruling of the IHC because it was “inherently a frivolous petition”.

The issue of resignations of MNAs, he stated, did not fall in the high court’s jurisdiction and exclusively relates to the functioning of parliament, which cannot be called in question. “The power of NA speaker is not subject to the jurisdiction of any court,” Hamid wrote.

The absence of PTI lawmakers from the National Assembly after submitting their resignations until the acceptance of their demands does not fall within the meaning of Article 64(2) of Constitution. Since the National Assembly did not take up the matter during the protest, it cannot be judged by a court

In the original petition in the IHC, Shah had requested the court to de-seat all the PTI MNAs, who had voluntarily tendered their resignations before the speaker in the National Assembly.

The court, however, dismissed the plea, ruling the matter was the exclusive domain of the assembly speaker, who should “independently and judiciously apply his mind on deciding the resignation of a legislator”.

“This court can neither usurp the powers vested with the speaker nor make him go through the rigours of adducing evidence in court,” the court stated in the verdict. Shah has challenged the judgment in the SC.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th, 2015.