Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Accepting 13 almost identical pleas against the Election Act, 2017, for regular hearing, the Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to all the respondents including ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) while adjourning the proceedings until January 23.

A three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Ijazul Ahsan after hearing preliminary arguments of the counsels for the petitioners declared the pleas as maintainable.

As the hearing commenced, the chief justice made it clear to the counsels for the petitioners that notices will only be issued to the respondents when they will make a strong case justifying that the pleas were maintainable under Article 184 (3) of the constitution.

He observed that although the petitions were of political in nature, however, the court would decide them in accordance with the law and the constitution.

He also observed that the Election Act, 2017, was passed by the parliament, which was supreme body for lawmaking in the country. However, the court will strictly move over the pleas according to the law and the constitution.

He recalled that the apex court had held in the disqualification case of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) former secretary general Jahangir Tareen that the parliament was supreme and the court could not overstep its jurisdiction.

He inquired from Dr Farogh Nasim, counsel for Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad, that whether a legislation made by the parliament could be nullified, besides how many times had the apex court nullified such legislations made by the parliament.

Farogh Nasim, however, submitted that the court had the jurisdiction and the ultimate powers to declare null and void any legislation which violated the constitution, adding that it was the fundamental right of the citizens to be governed by an honest person.

He argued that it was pre-requisite under Article 62 and 63 of the constitution that the head of a political party must be ‘sadiq and ameen’. He stated that Article 63 of the constitution empowers the head of a political party to give tickets to its party members to contest the elections. He said when a party head gives tickets to his party members, he controls his party members in the parliament as well.

To a court query, he stated that the petitions were maintainable under Article 184 (3) of the constitution as it was the matter of public importance under Article 9 and 17 of the constitution. He contended that the amendment introduced in the Election Act, 2017, was person-specific.

He stated that the Election Act, 2017, was passed by the Senate by the margin of only one vote. The chief justice rejected this argument of the counsel and observed that one had its own value and one vote was enough to pass a law.

In his arguments, Latif Khosa, senior counsel for Pakistan People’s Party, stated that according to the spirit of the constitution a disqualified person could not head a political entity whose members become lawmakers and represent the people.

Published in Daily Times, January 2^nd 2018.