The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday suspended a previous decision requiring the National Assembly speaker to revisit his acceptance of the resignations of 72 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers, as it commenced proceedings into an intra-court appeal against the initial verdict.
In May, Justice Shahid Karim had suspended the de-notification of 72 PTI MNAs by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and directed them to appear before Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf in person to have their resignations withdrawn. At the time, the PTI lawmakers had maintained that they would return to Parliament and assume the role of the opposition, which they had abandoned last year when they resigned en masse following the ouster of Imran Khan through a vote of no-confidence.
During Tuesday’s proceedings into an intra-court appeal filed by NA Secretary Tahir Hussain, a two-judge bench comprising Justices Shahid Bilal Hassan and Shakil Ahmad observed that the appeal had raised some important points about the resignations of PTI lawmakers. It then directed the appellant’s counsel to submit copies of all pending petitions—before the Supreme Court and the Islamabad High Court—on similar matters and sought a reply from all respondents by June 21.
According to the appeal, the plaintiff had argued that the order suspending the de-notification of the MNAs should be set aside as it was illegal, arbitrary and without jurisdiction. It argued that a single judge had ruled on a controversial matter before resolving preliminary objections to the maintainability of the petitions filed by the lawmakers, adding that due process was not followed.
Stressing that no court had the mandate to interfere in such matters after the National Assembly speaker had already found the lawmakers’ resignations genuine and voluntary, the appeal said the only way the matter could be taken up is if the ECP refused to de-notify any lawmaker. The appeal also alleged that the remarks made by Justice Karim during proceedings of the case suggested he was predisposed and urged the court to set aside the previous ruling and maintain a status quo until a final decision on the appeal.