A petition was filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday seeking early administration of oath to Chief Minister-elect Hamza Shehbaz by the Punjab governor.
The petition of Hamza Shehbaz was filed in the court through his lawyer Azam Nazir Tarar Advocate in which the Punjab governor and chief secretary were made respondents.
It was stated in the petition that the resignation of former chief minister Usman Buzdar had been accepted on April 1, and the Chief Minister’s office has been lying vacant since then.
“It is a constitutional convention for the governor to call the elected chief minister and administer oath to him. Violation of constitutional conventions is in fact a deviation from the Constitution itself,” read the petition. “A constitutional crisis is being created which is against the parliamentary democracy and the spirit of the Constitution. The governor’s office is a symbol of federation and unity, and the governor’s job is to protect the Constitution,” it added.
“In the written Constitution, the governor does not have the powers of a king. The governor’s refusal to take oath from the petitioner is a political ploy and bad intention. The offices of the president, assembly speaker and governor are bound to avoid adopting party policies,” it stated.
“As the oath is not being administered, the petitioner has got no choice but to file a constitutional petition. The Punjab governor should be ordered to administer oath to the newly-elected Chief Minister of Punjab without any delay,” the court urged.
