NA speaker directed to administer oath to Hamza

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday directed National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf to administer the oath to Punjab Chief Minister-elect Hamza Shehbaz on Saturday at 11:30am.

Earlier, Punjab Governor Omer Sarfraz Cheema turned down the suggestion of the LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhati and did not administer oath to Hamza.

Justice Jawad Hassan issued the nine-page writen order ater earlier reserving the verdict. Hamza had sought the court’s intervention for a third time over his oath-taking process and had filed a petition seeking the administration of oath to him by “a person nominated by the court” owing to the “defiant atitude” of President Arif Alvi and the province’s governor, Omar Sarfraz Cheema.

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Hassan asked about the order passed by the LHC CJ. Subsequently, Hamza’s counsel, Khalid Ishaq, read the order out loud and told the court that the president and the Punjab governor were blatantly violating the Constitution.

Justice Hassan remarked that no one should have the audacity to flout the court’s directives. “This concerns the respect of the high court and Pakistan’s judiciary,” he said.

Healsoregretedthefactthattwoorderspassed by the high court were not implemented, adding that he would make a decision based on the Constitution.

Hamza’s lawyer told the court that LHC had issued directives for holding the chief minister’s election. He added that the governor was refusing to administer the oath to the chief minister-elect in contravention of the court’s directives.

When the hearing continued ater a short break, Justice Hassan asked why the petitioner had not made the president and the Punjab governor respondents in the case. At this, Hamza’s lawyer replied by saying there was no need to make them respondents in the case.

In a petition filed on Friday, Hamza contended that the governor and president had proved themselves to be “guided by whims and fantasies instead of law and Constitution” by refusing to abide by the court’s orders on his previous two petitions.

The PML-N leader had first approached the court ater Cheema refused to administer oath to him. Ater hearing the arguments, the court had instructed President Alvi to appoint a representative to administer the oath in the absence of the governor.

However, ater further delay by the president, Hamza had moved the court again on April 25. This time, he had asked the LHC to instruct Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani to administer oath to him. In his ruling, LHC CJ Ameer Bhati had directed Governor Cheema to complete Hamza’s oath-taking process by April 28.