LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Friday restored the provincial cabinet and Parvez Elahi as the chief minister after he assured the court that he would not dissolve the Punjab Assembly once regains control of the office. The LHC wanted an undertaking from Elahi that he would not dissolve the assembly as if he would resort to the move, it could deepen the ongoing political turmoil in the province.

Punjab Governor Baligh-ur-Rehman de-notified the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader as the chief minister as he did not take a vote of confidence despite the passage of several hours.

A five-member bench headed by Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh and including Justices Justices Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, Tariq Saleem Sheikh, Asim Hafeez and Muzamil Akhtar Shabir heard the case. The court took two breaks of 10 minutes and an hour and asked Elahi's counsel Barrister Ali Zafar to consult his client about the undertaking.

Following the assurance of not dissolving from the PML-Q leader, the court reinstated him as the chief minister. The LHC also issued notices to all the parties in the case and summoned them on January 11.

The court suspended the governor's order till the next hearing and also did not make it compulsory for the chief minister to take a vote of confidence on the Punjab governor's orders.

However, it noted that the court's order "will not preclude the petitioner from taking a vote of confidence on his own accord". At the outset of today's hearing, Elahi’s counsel Barrister Zafar explained to the bench how his client was elected as the chief minister. He also mentioned the Supreme Court verdict which ruled in favour of the PML-Q leader. Then, Zafar explained the two constitutional steps that can be used to remove a chief minister. “A chief minister is elected by an assembly and can be removed via a vote of confidence. The second process is to ask the chief minister to take a vote of confidence,” said Zafar. He added that if the governor feels the chief minister has lost his majority, then a session can be called in for the purpose. “If PTI says that it is not with the chief minister then it can be said that Elahi has lost the majority but the governor cannot ask the CM to take a vote of confidence in two hours,” said Zafar.

“All members need to be sent a notice,” maintained Elahi’s counsel. He added that at times some lawmakers are abroad so the speaker can give 10 days of notice. “It is also possible that the speaker holds voting immediately,” remarked Justice Sheikh. It is not necessary to give a 10-day notice, he added.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 24 2022

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