Oath issue: Hamza Shehbaz moves LHC for third time
PML-N leader and Punjab CM-elect Hamza Shahbaz Sharif moved to the LHC for the third time over the oath administration issue.
LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and Punjab Chief Minister-elect Hamza Shahbaz Sharif has moved to the Lahore High Court (LHC) for the third time over the oath administration issue.
Hamza Shahbaz, Punjab CM-elect on April 16, once again filed a petition against Punjab Governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema for allegedly rejecting to implementation of the court orders for the third time.
Hamza sought LHC to issue an order for fixing the time and venue of the oath-taking ceremony besides declaring the delaying tactics used for the oath administration of the Punjab CM-elect ‘unconstitutional’.
It is important to mention here that Punjab Governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema had decided not to administer the oath to Hamza Shehbaz yesterday despite getting instructions from the President Dr Arif Alvi to follow the high court’s orders in which the judiciary directed him to immediately go for the oath administration on April 28 directly or indirectly through appointing his nominee under Article 255.
Hamza Shehbaz had received the LHC verdict in his favour on Tuesday when he approached the court for the second time in which the judge ruled that the governor could not refuse the oath.
In his third plea, the Punjab CM-elect sought fresh court orders to nominate a person for the oath administration to enforce its provisions with full force as the president and the governor are not ready to obey the judicial directions.
Amid the constitutional crisis in Punjab, Governor Cheema responded to a letter from President Alvi yesterday in which he raised questions after holding consultations with the legal experts regarding the interpretation of two contradictory rulings of the high court on April 22 and 27.
Moreover, Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi’s statement yesterday also deepened the constitutional crisis as he refused to accept Hamza as the chief minister and called Usman Buzdar the real chief minister of the province.
While criticising the LHC order, Pervaiz Elahi said that the judiciary could not interfere in the assembly’s proceedings as the Supreme Court (SC) had already issued its judgement in this regard and all institutions should work within their prescribed constitutional limits.
