Daily Times

The Supreme Court’s Registrar Office on Tuesday rejected a constitutional petition filed against the appointment of prime minister’s advisors and special assistants.

While returning the petition, the Registrar Office objected that the petitioners didn’t approach the appropriate forum over their grievances.

Lawyers Arshad Khan and Ghulam Dastagir Butt had filed a constitutional petition under Article 184(3) through lawyer Jahangir Jadoon, who is also an office-bearer of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) legal wing.

“The petitioners have not pointed out as to what questions of public importance in the instant case are involved with reference to enforcement of any of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the constitution, so as to directly invoke the Supreme Court under Article 184(3) of the constitution,” the reply of the Registrar Office read. “The petitioners have not approached any other appropriate forum available to them under the law for the same relief. They have also not provided any justification for not doing so,” it further said. “Multifarious prayers have been made in one constitutional petition,” it concluded.

It is worth mentioning here that during the tenure of the incumbent chief justice, only one constitutional petition has been entertained so far.

The matter of the appointment of advisers and special assistants to the prime minister is also pending in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The petition in the apex court argued that the appointments made directly or indirectly to exercise the power and control the government department are against the constitution and should be dealt with in accordance with the law. “The Prime Minister is neither a King nor a Monarch, but is in the domain of trust and under Article 5 of the Constitution, he is obliged to obey the Constitution and law like any other ordinary citizen, and while exercising his executive authority, his discretion is neither brazen nor arbitrary but subject to the Constitution, since he has taken the oath to discharge his duties and perform function solely in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan,” the petition stated, adding that Rule 4(6) of Rules of Business, 1973, is inconsistent with the constitutional guarantees in the form of fundamental rights of its citizen.