WEB DESK
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday reinstated PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi as the Punjab chief minister after he submitted an undertaking assuring the court that he would not dissolve the provincial assembly. The court issued the directives as a five-member bench took up Elahi’s plea challenging Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman’s orders to de-notify him as the provincial chief executive.
On Thursday night, the Punjab governor sprang into action and denotified Elahi as chief minister of the largest province in a bid to forestall ousted premier Imran Khan’s plan to dissolve the Punjab Assembly (PA).
In his order dated Dec 22, the governor said that since the chief minister had refrained from taking a vote of confidence at the appointed day and time, he ceased to hold the office. Rehman, however, asked Elahi to continue working as chief minister until his successor takes charge.
Subsequently, Elahi approached the court earlier today, saying the move was “unconstitutional, unlawful and of no legal effect”.
The hearing was put off for an hour after the court asked Elahi’s counsel, Barrister Ali Zafar, to seek an assurance from his client with regards to not dissolving the assembly.
When the hearing resumed Elahi, through his counsel, submitted an undertaking wherein he said he would not dissolve the provincial assembly until the next hearing.
“If me and my cabinet are reinstated, then I will not send the assembly dissolution summary to the governor till the next hearing,” the undertaking, which was read aloud by Zafar in the courtroom, said.
Subsequently, the court reinstated Elahi as the Punjab chief minister and directed the respondents to submit a reply at the next hearing scheduled for January 11, 2023.
Speaking to the media shortly after the court’s verdict, PTI Vice President Fawad Chaudhry said that rumours suggested that the provincial chief secretary was coerced into signing the notification that was issued after the governor de-notifed Elahi.
“The details will come out […] the way signature was taken from him and the way that it is being said that he was locked in his office and who meted out this treatment to the chief secretary — the province’s top bureaucrat. Hopefully, he will raise his voice and elaborate on who did it.”
Chaudhry lamented that the Constitution had been abandoned and the law of “might is right” was prevailing in the country.
Talking about the Punjab Assembly, he said Speaker Sibtain Khan would write to the president for initiating proceedings against the Punjab governor for “misconduct”.
He said that the governor and chief secretary would be summoned to answer for daring to take such an “unconstitutional measure”.
