Former MPA Mehmood challenged the order of the ECP through his counsel Mr. Jahanzeb Sukhera.
LAHORE: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-Feb 23rd, 2023) The Lahore High Court on Thursday held that ECP did not have the power to disqualify parliamentarians for filling false statement of assets.
The court issued the detailed judgement in a petition filed by Mian Tariq Mehmood who was MPA from Gujrat, holding that the ECP does not have any power to disqualify a parliamentarian under Articles 62(1)(f) and 63 on a private complaint. In 2019 Mr Mehmood was declared by the ECP to not be qualified to be a member of Parliament under Articles 62(1)(f) and 63.
Mr. Mehmood challenged the order of the ECP through his counsel Mr. Jahanzeb Sukhera. Mr. Sukhera had argued that the ECP is not vested with any power to disqualify a parliamentarian on the grounds of having submitted a false statement of assets and that this power exclusively vests with the courts. Mr. Sukhera had also argued that the ECP has no power to initiate disqualification proceedings against a parliamentarian on an application filed by any private person. He stated that only time ECP may disqualify a parliamentarian is when a reference is sent to it by the Speaker or Chairman Senate, and that too in only very limited situations as provided in the Constitution.
M.r Justice Shahid Karim, while accepting the petition, has held that it is the duty of the ECP to determine at the commencement of any inquiry whether it has the jurisdiction to entertain the matter, and if does not, the ECP must abstain and not proceed further. The judgment has also held that the ECP cannot add to its powers at its whims.
This judgement is likely to have implications in the Ex- Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cases challenging the order of the ECP disqualifying him in the Toshakhana reference filed by members of the PDM. Currently the order of the ECP has been challenged in both the Islamabad High Court and the Lahore High Court.
