Binds PM, cabinet not to implement top court decision; Demands review of order through a full bench formation
Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
The National Assembly on Thursday passed a resolution rejecting the three-member Supreme Court bench’s “minority” verdict on the Punjab elections and made it binding on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his cabinet not to implement the decision.
The resolution was moved by Balochistan Awami Party lawmaker Khalid Magsi and approved by a majority of the lawmakers.
The Supreme Court Tuesday had nullified electoral watchdog’s decision about the delay in holding polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and fixed May 14 as the date for polls in the province.
Reading out the resolution on the floor of the National Assembly, Magsi said: “This House rejects the minority decision of the three-member bench and binds the prime minister and the cabinet not to implement the unconstitutional and unlawful decision.”
The resolution noted that multiple sections of the society had called on the top court to form a full court bench but it was ignored and only one political party was heard in the case.
It further said that the house considers the conduct of general elections simultaneously across the country as the solution to all the problems. The resolution also demanded the formation of a full court bench to review the “wrong interpretation” of Article 63-A. The resolution expressed concern over judiciary’s meddling
in political affairs. It demanded that the Supreme Court should review its decision through a full bench formation. The resolution asked the prime minister to order the federal cabinet to ensure that decision of the court was not implemented. The resolution said the House considered simultaneous elections in all provinces and centre as the only solution for stability in the country.
Neither full court bench was formed nor any political party’s, but one, point of view was paid heed to, which is ultra vires to the court’s practice and procedure, read the resolution. “The parliament rejects the verdict of the minority-ruled bench and declares the majority-ruled verdict enforceable,” the resolution added.
