ISLAMABAD: The opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has urged the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to issue a verdict on the presidential power of promulgating frequent ordinances since the matter could not be resolved politically in the parliament.

       While hearing the petition filed by PML-N lawmaker Mohsin Nawaz Ranjha against the issuance of frequent ordinances, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah had on July 1 referred the matter to the National Assembly speaker since the speaker had constituted a parliamentary committee to remove legislation-related concerns.

       Chief Justice Minallah has directed that this matter should be placed before the committee.

       Barrister Umar Ijaz Gillani on Saturday filed a civil miscellaneous application before the IHC, telling the court that the matter has been ‘shelved’ in the parliament.

       A civil miscellaneous application informs IHC that matter has been ‘shelved’ in the parliament

       The petition said, “till date the Petitioner has not received any reply from the Speaker National Assembly concerning the subject matter and question of law”, adding “in fact no progress has been made on the issue during the almost TWO MONTHS since last hearing.”

       The petition insisted for issuing stay order against the Ordinance on Electronic Voting Machines, saying, “It could result in wasteful expenditure of public funds on procurement of EVM equipment and creation of third party rights”.

       According to the petition, the question in consideration in these petitions — the scope of Article 89 — is one which requires constitutional interpretation which the judiciary is empowered to decide on.

       The petition requested the court to decide the matter on merit since it could not be resolved in the parliamentary committee.

       It may be mentioned that on July 28, Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan has given an assurance to the IHC during the hearing of a petition filed by some eminent scholars against presidential ordinances regarding the Higher Education Commission (HEC) that the prime minister has decided to run the government through parliamentary democracy and the frequent recourse of presidential ordinances was about to end.

       Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2021