The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday directed the principal secretary to Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori to provide immediate access to the Sindh Assembly speaker, who is presently the acting governor of Sindh, to all rooms and other chambers of the Governor House, except the residential portion, to carry out his official business as the acting governor of the province under the Constitution.
The direction on a petition of Sindh Assembly Speaker Awais Qadir Shah who had approached the high court against denial of his access to various rooms of the Governor House to perform his official duties as the acting governor.
A counsel for the petitioner had submitted that Governor Tessori was presently outside the country and as such by the virtue of the Article 104 of the Constitution, the speaker of the Sindh Assembly had to perform the functions of the acting governor until the governor returned to Pakistan.
He submitted that the petitioner was being denied access to the Governor House and its offices, which had hampered him from performing his official duties as the acting governor.
The counsel submitted that the principal secretary to the Sindh governor had on numerous occasions denied access of the Sindh Assembly speaker to the Governor House and its offices despite being requested by the petitioner for performing his official duties.
The counsel requested the bench to direct the authorities concerned to provide unobstructed access to the petitioner to the Governor House and its offices for discharging duties as the acting governor of the province.
The Sindh advocate general (AG), who appeared on the court notice, was asked by the bench as to whether in his view there was an impediment for the acting governor to enter the Governor House in order to discharge his functions as the acting governor.
The AG said that the acting governor under the Article 104 of the Constitution supported by the definitions and sections of the Article 260 of the Constitution was legally entitled to use the Governor House and its rooms therein for discharging official business as the governor.
A division bench of the SHC comprising Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha and Justice Adnanul Karim Memon observed that it was admitted position that the governor of Sindh was outside Pakistan and under the Article 104 of the Constitution, the speaker of the provincial assembly shall perform the functions of the governor until the governor returned to Pakistan.
The bench observed that the petitioner’s counsel had informed it that today, the acting governor had called a meeting with high ranking officials at the Governor House, but the principal secretary to the Sindh governor refused access to the acting governor, which caused untoward situation.
The SHC observed that prima facie, it appears that under the Article 104 of the Constitution, the speaker of the provincial assembly could not be denied access to the Governor House in order to carry out his official business and the principal secretary to the governor had prima facie violated the Constitution by refusing the acting governor access to the Governor House.
The SHC directed the principal secretary of the Governor House to provide immediate access to the acting governor to all rooms and offices of the Governor House except any residential portion thereof in order to carry out his official business as the acting governor of Sindh under the Constitution.
The high court also issued notices to the chief secretary, principal secretary to the president of Pakistan and others and called their comments on June 23. The SHC in the meantime observed that the Sindh government was at liberty to look into the conduct of the principal secretary to the governor and take any action which it deeped appropriate in accordance with the law.