Daily Times

The MPAs from both the opposition political parties in Punjab – PML-N and PPP – have challenged the frequent use of governor’s powers of promulgating ordinances in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday.

MPAs Samiullah Khan and Azma Bokhari of PML-N and parliamentary leader of PPP in Punjab Assembly Syed Hassan Murtaza challenged the ordinances in LHC through their counsel Advocate Usama Khawar Ghumman.

According to the petitioners, the governor on the advice of the provincial government has promulgated more than 16 ordinances since the start of 2019. The petition said that the governor, under Article 128 of the constitution of Pakistan, is empowered to promulgate ordinances, which were a form of temporary legislation subject to two expressly stipulated conditions: (a) when the Provincial Assembly not in session; and (b) if circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate action. The petition said that “Article 128 represents a narrow exception to the general procedure for bringing about legislation. Bare reading of the text shows that the power to legislate conferred on the Governor by Article 128 is meant only for dealing with emergencies and not handling routine matters”. According to petitioners, Pakistan is a representative and deliberative democracy. The people of Punjab have elected them to represent them in the Provincial Assembly and legislate on their behalf. This requires that members of the Assembly legislate, not the executive. The petitioners have alleged that the provincial government couldn’t be allowed to bulldoze the legislative agenda using the emergency Governor’s powers to promulgate ordinances and subvert the Provincial Assembly.

The petitioner prayed to the court to declare 10 ordinances issued by the incumbent government as unconstitutional, mala fide, and ultra vires of Article 128 of the Constitution. Moreover declare that the Governor’s power to promulgate ordinances can be used to bring about such legislation only when the government needs to respond to an emergency situation such as war, famine, epidemic or rebellion which has put the life, liberty or property of the people of Pakistan at stake so that this power is not misused again.

Talking to Daily Times, the petitioner MPA Samiullah said that the promulgation of ordinances is considered as a ‘bad legislation’ in every democratic society where the parliamentary form of government is in practice. “I also raised this issue in Punjab Assembly last week as this government has introduced a factory of ordinances during last few months,” said MPA Samiullah Khan. He was of the view that law minister Raja Basharat is a senior parliamentarian but every political worker follows the footprints of his leader and Raja also takes inspiration from his leader Imran Khan who doesn’t believe in democratic norms at all. We have knocked at the doors of honorable LHC today against this bad legislation to quash it, he added. It is pertinent to mention here that the opposition has also staged a walkout from Punjab Assembly last week against the practice of promulgating the Ordinances through the executive powers of the Governor.

The other petitioner MPA Syed Hassan Murtaza of PPP told Daily Times that Ordinances are promulgated for an emergency situation only and not for the routine matters. “The government has promulgated 18 ordinances so far and most of them were related to the routine matter,” said the PPP MPA. I wonder why the government had to promulgate the University of Mianwali Ordinance 2019 for a simple and routine matter of a university, asked MPA Hassan Murtaza. He was of the view that the PTI led Punjab government hasn’t completed the formation of the House yet as only 21 out of 40 standing committees are constituted in Punjab Assembly. The PML-N has also resigned from the 21 standing committees and the government is in very difficult position to send the business to the committees and therefore they use the bad practice of Ordinances, he added.