Tariq Saeed Peshawar
In an apparent triumph for the opposition parties in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the Peshawar High Court on Wednesday directed the Speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly to administer the oath to the lawmakers elected on reserved seats.
The decision was announced after a two-member PHC bench comprising Justice Attique Shah and Justice Shakeel Ahmad had reserved the verdict on a petition filed by the opposition parties in the provincial assembly regarding the swearing-in of the members.
Opposition parties in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, it may be recalled had sought the intervention of the Peshawar High Court on the issue of oath-taking of members on the reserved seats.
“Failure to administer the oath to members elected on the KP reserved reflects ‘mal-intent’,” Read a petition, filed by members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party and JamiatUlema-e-Islam-F on March 25.
Oath-taking on reserved seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa deadlocked between the provincial government and opposition parties, wherein the former has objected to the KP governor’s decision to summon the assembly session upon the opposition’s request. The KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati’s had refused to follow the governor’s recommendation to summon the legislature’s session and administer the oath to the members elected on seats reserved for women and minorities.
The issue became crucial for both the ruling and opposition parties as it is destined to play an important role in the Senate polls scheduled to be held April 2 for filling 11 seats from the province. With the existing strength of the assembly, the ruling party in the assembly, the PTI backed Sunni Ittehad Council can win most of the Senate seats in all categories from the province.
During the Wednesday’s hearing Justice Shakeel Ahmad questioned whether the speaker was refusing to administer the oath, to which the KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati’s lawyer replied in the negative stressing that for the first time, the governor’s orders regarding the summoning of the assembly session came via the opposition leader. On Justice Attique Shah’s query whether the governor’s orders have been challenged, the counsel, once again, replied in the negative. He also further stressed that the speaker can only issue the summons for the assembly when one-fourth of the members submit such a request.
On the issue of whether the governor has the authority to summon the session, the court was apprised that Article 109 of the Constitution confers the said official to summon the assembly session.
The court stressed that the members are administered their oaths in the assembly session. Justice Attique highlighted that neither the president nor the governors can summon an assembly session without consulting with the government first.
