LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muham­mad Ameer Bhatti on Thursday dismissed a petition against the acceptance of former chief minister Usman Buzdar’s resignation by the then Punjab governor and sought a reply from the governor on a petition of chief minister-elect Hamza Shehbaz challenging the delay in his oath-taking.

“How can you be an agg­rieved party in this case?” the chief justice asked Nadeem Sarwar, counsel for petitioner Tanvir Sarwar, who sought restoration of Mr Buzdar as chief minister.

The chief justice asked the lawyer as to why he had filed the petition if the person (Buzdar) who had resig­ned from the office had no objection.

“You people have made a mockery of the courts,” the CJ furiously asked the lawyer.

Without referring to the ongoing protests by the Pakistan Tehreek-i--Insaf, the chief justice said what kind of democracy it is that the whole country had been made hostage.

At this, the lawyer sought permission to withdraw the petition.

Chief Justice Bhatti observed that it was unfortunate that petitions had been filed for cheap publicity in the name of public interest litigation.

The petitioner’s lawyer stated that Buzdar did not submit a handwritten resignation as required by the Constitution and the resignation was also not properly addressed to the governor.

The chief justice obser­ved what if a chief minister was not able to write on his own.

The chief justice imposed a fine of Rs1 million on the petitioner and dismissed the petition.

However, on the request of some senior lawyers, the chief justice withdrew the fine and dismissed the petition as withdrawn.

The petitioner contended that the former chief minister’s resignation was not in accordance with the conditions. He said the former chief minister addressed his resignation to the prime minister instead of the governor as required by the Constitution.

He said the prime minister later forwarded the resignation of Buzdar to then governor Muhammad Sarwar who finally accepted it.

The petitioner contended that the acceptance of an unconstitutional resignation of the chief minister by the government was itself an unconstitutional act. He said since the resignation of the former chief minister was not a valid one, all the subsequent actions including the election of Hamza Shehbaz as new chief minister of the province were also unconstitutional.

The petitioner asked the court to set aside the acceptance of Buzdar’s resignation by the then governor for being illegal and restore him as the chief minister of Punjab. He also asked the court to restrain Hamza from functioning as the chief minister.

Hamza’s oath-taking

The chief justice directed the advocate general of Punjab to submit a reply on behalf of the governor to a petition of Chief Minister-elect Hamza Shehbaz challenging the delay in oath-taking ceremony.

Earlier, lawyers appearing on behalf of Hamza requested the chief justice to seek the reply from the governor the same day. However, Chief Justice Bhatti turned down the request and asked the lawyers to let the court work on its course.

The chief justice observed that the court could not pass any order without hearing point of view of the other side.

The lawyers reiterated the request saying an additional advocate general was present in the court. They said the biggest province of the country had been without its chief executive for weeks only because of the unconstitutional act of the governor.

Justice Bhatti, however, adjourned the hearing till Friday (today) and directed the advocate general of Punjab to appear after seeking instructions from the governor on the matter.

The petition said Hamza had been elected as chief minister in a session held on the directions of the LHC. It said Governor Umar Sarfraz Cheema had been refusing to adhere to the constitutional command and delaying the oath-taking ceremony of the petitioner.

The petition stated that ironically, the incumbent governor had not summoned the petitioner to take oath in sheer disregard of the Constitution and constitutional convention.

It said the incumbent governor was a former office-bearer and worker of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and he was bent upon creating a constitutional crisis in the province.

It said the illegal and unconstitutional inaction to call upon the chief minister-elect and refusal to administer oath on the basis of some misconceived and unconstitutional figment of imagination was clearly politically motivated and had no nexus with the constitutional role of the governor.

The petition asked the court to order the governor to administer the oath to the petitioner as per the prevalent constitutional dispensation without any delay. It also asked the court to appoint any other person to administer the oath of the chief minister to the petitioner.-

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2022