ISLAMABAD: The Islam­abad High Court on Friday observed that the election for the vacant seat of National Assembly speaker would be held on April 22 and the court preferred not to intervene in the parliamentary domain till that date.

“At this stage, we do not have any reason to doubt that the deputy speaker may have exercised powers based on mala fide. The sitting of the National Assembly for electing the speaker has been called on 22-04-2022 vide Circular, dated 13-04-2022,” obser­ved an IHC larger bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Babar Sattar while hearing a petition filed by PML-N leader Murtaza Javed Abbasi against Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri’s move for delaying the National Assembly session for the election of the speaker.

The bench expected “that the election will take place on the said date to fill the office of the speaker”.

In an apparent move to delay the election of the NA speaker and using his special powers under the rules, Qasim Suri changed the schedule of the sitting of the lower house of parliament from April 16 to April 22.

“The National Assembly session, which was scheduled to be held at 4pm on April 16, will now be held at 3pm on April 22. The change in the schedule has been made by the acting speaker under Rule 49(2) of the Rules and Procedure for the Conduct of the Business in the National Assembly 2007,” said an official handout issued by the NA Secretariat on Wednesday.

“The questions raised by the petitioner are of paramount public importance and, therefore, notices are directed to be issued to the respondents,” the IHC bench observed. It directed the National Assembly secretary to submit para-wise comments by April 22.

The petitioner, while citing Qasim Suri and the secretaries of parliamentary affairs and National Assembly as respondents, requested the court to declare the deputy speaker’s order adjourning the National Assembly till April 22 as unconstitutional and direct him to convene an immediate session for the election of the speaker. The secretaries of parliamentary affairs and National Assembly should be directed to convene the NA session on April 16, it added.

The petition requested the court to prevent the deputy speaker from exercising the powers of the National Assembly speaker.

Mansoor Awan, the petitioner’s counsel, contended that no-confidence proceedings are pending against Qasim Suri and, therefore, it raises a question of conflict of interest that he is still issuing directives.

It has been asserted that Mr Suri has arbitrarily exercised his powers so as to delay the election of the speaker. He has purportedly exercised the powers in violation of Article 53 of the Constitution and Rule 12 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.

The counsel argued that the power exercised by the deputy speaker did not attract the bar under Article 69 of the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2022