Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Asim Hafeez remarked on Wednesday that it was compulsory for a chief minister to have round-the-clock support from a majority of lawmakers in the house.
He passed these remarks as a five-member bench comprising him, Justice Abid Aziz Shaikh, Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh, and Justice Muzamil Akhtar Shabir took up Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s plea challenging Governor Balighur Rehman’s orders to de-notify him as the provincial chief executive.
The hearing coincides with an ongoing Punjab Assembly session which has been marred by two consecutive days of protests from the opposition, who are demanding Elahi take the vote of confidence.
Last month, the Punjab governor denotified Elahi as chief minister of the largest province in a bid to forestall ousted premier Imran Khan’s plan to dissolve the Punjab Assembly.
In his order dated Dec 22, the governor had said that since the chief minister had refrained from taking a vote of confidence at the appointed day and time, he ceased to hold office. Rehman, however, had asked Elahi to continue working as chief minister until a successor takes charge.
Subsequently, Elahi approached the court, saying the move was “unconstitutional, unlawful and of no legal effect”.
At the previous hearing, the LHC had reinstated the PML-Q leader as the chief minister after he submitted an undertaking assuring the court that he would not dissolve the provincial assembly until the next hearing (today).
At the outset of the hearing today, Justice Shaikh remarked that the matter under discussion had not yet been solved.
“It will only reach a conclusion when they [the Punjab government] take the vote of confidence,” the governor’s lawyers said, adding that Elahi had a lot of time to take the trust vote after the previous hearing but he did not do it.
“This clearly shows their ill intention,” he stated and then requested the court to fix a date for the vote of confidence.
Here, Justice Shaikh turned to Elahi’s lawyer and asked: “How many days will be suitable for you to take the vote of confidence? We will fix a time accordingly and your problem will be solved.”
Elahi’s lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar pointed out that the PA speaker’s ruling against the governor’s orders of a no-trust vote had not yet been challenged.
“But the question is whether Elahi has the assembly’s support for the post of the chief minister,” the court said. “Is there no clarity yet on whether the vote of confidence should be taken or not?
Meanwhile, Justice Hafeez said that the chief minister should have the confidence of the majority of lawmakers round-the-clock.
The court then asked Elahi’s lawyer if his counsel was accepting the offer for the vote of confidence or not. Barrister Zafar replied that they had rejected the offer.
Subsequently, Justice Shaikh said that if a consensus could not be reached between the governor and the chief minister, then the case would be heard on “merit”.
“The matter has now gone beyond a reasonable time,” he remarked, adding that the court would have to look at the assembly dissolution, violation of the governor’s orders and the way forward.
At that, Barrister Zafar started presenting his arguments in the case.
“If a majority of PTI’s Punjab lawmakers come to the governor and tell him that they have lost confidence in the CM, only then can a vote of confidence be called,” he said.
Zafar contended that the governor did not provide suitable reasons for the trust vote, adding that his client would have had no problem with the vote if a “legal and constitutional procedure” was adopted.
“If someone is trying to create a situation of instability [in the province], we will object to it,” he added.
The hearing was then adjourned till 1:30pm.
