SC Allows Hamza Shahbaz To Serve As Trusty CM Punjab

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SC allows Hamza Shahbaz to serve as trusty CM Punjab

A SC three-member bench led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial has directed PA Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari to appear before court along with relevant record on Monday.

LAHORE: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-July 23rd, 2022) The Supreme Court has allowed Hamza Shahbaz to serve as trusty Chief Minister of the Punjab while hearing the petitions of PTI and the PML-Q leader Pervez Elahi challenging Deputy Speaker Dost Mazari's ruling in the Punjab chief minister's election.

A three-member bench led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar — heard the case at the Supreme Court's Lahore registry.

The SC directed the Punjab Deputy Speaker along with record on Monday.

"We cannot leave Punjab without governance," the CJP remarked.

Fawad Chaudhary, Farrukh Habib, Mehmood-ur-Rasheed and other PTI leaders were present there.

Advocate General Punjab Shahzad Shaukat, however, sought time from the top court.

The court accepted his plea and adjourned further hearing till Monday.

During the proceedings, PTI's counsel Barrister Ali Zafar informed the court that during yesterday's Punjab Assembly session, a re-election of the province's chief minister took place.

Justice Ahsan asked the lawyer how many lawmakers were present during the session, to which he responded that 370 members of the assembly were there.

Zafar contended that Elahi secured 186 votes and Hamza bagged 179 votes, therefore, in line with the Constitution of Pakistan, the PML-Q leader was the chief minister.

The lawyer argued that the SC's opinion in the May order had held that the parliamentary party could give directions to lawmakers on whom to vote for, and the PML-Q's parliamentary party decided to back Elahi, but despite that, Mazari rejected 10 PML-Q votes.

"They ignored the parliamentary party's decision," said Zafar

At this, the chief justice observed that all the relevant parties — deputy speaker, chief minister, and Punjab attorney-general — should be issued notices so they can provide their versions.

"We wish to personally hear from the deputy speaker. Only the deputy speaker can tell us which paragraph he was referring to," Justice Bandial said.

The PTI and PML-Q have filed the petition s and challenged the ruling of Deputy Speaker. They asked the court to set aside the ruling and try Dost Muhammad Mazari under Article 6 for violating the constitution.

Abdullah Hussain

Abdullah Hussain is a staff member who writes on politics, human rights, social issues and climate change.