ISLAMABAD
Justice Ijazuk Ahsan raised question on Wednesday during the hearing on article63-A, whether disloyalty to a political party or dishonesty which could lead to his disqualification.
A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and comprising of Justice Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, heard presidential reference seeking the ‘apex court’ interpretation of article 63-A of constitution. Justice Ahsan asked PPP counsel Farook H Naek “Is disloyality not dishonesty” he further questioned that whether a lawmaker could be disqualified over ‘dishonesty.’ “Disloyalty” was a strong work and it was not mentioned in Article 63-A, Naek replied.
Earlier at the start of the hearing today, Naek recalled that Article 58-2(b), under which elected government has been sent to home in part was abrogated in 1997 through the 13the amendment but was brought back by dictator Pervez Musharraf in 2002.
The article was again removed through the 18 Amendment in 2018.
While giving the broad power to party heads, Article 63-A was added to the constitution via 14 amendment, said PPP counsel.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did not have the authority to reject the party head’s decision prior to a presidential order amending Article 63-A in 2002 that reduced the powers of party heads, told Naek.
The 18th Amendment further reduced the powers of party heads and transferred them to the parliamentary leaders of the parties, he said, adding that after Article 63-A was amended; the authority to make the final decision was given to the SC.
He also informed court “According to the 18th Amendment, the authority to make a decision on a reference related to Article 63-A was given to the ECP.” The amendment also bound the ECP to announce a decision within a month.
He contended that the presidential reference seeking the court’s opinion was only related to sub-clause 4 of Article 63-A which states that a parliamentarian would no longer be a member of the house and his seat would become vacant once the ECP confirms the party head’s declaration stating his defection.
Naek responded to the question related to article 62(1)(f), which did not specify the length of the disqualification he said that lawmakers did not specify the length of the disqualification for defecting lawmaker under article 63-A.
