Reference in SC to interpret Article 63-A tomorrow: AG

ISLAMABAD: Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Javed Khan has said a reference will be filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday to interpret Article 63/A.

He said there is no decision on the point the government is going to make in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Talking in the Geo News programme 'Naya Pakistan', anchored by Shahzad Iqbal, on Saturday, the attorney general said deseating a parliamentarian and floor-crossing generally considered the most disliked act. He said the government wants the SC input on two or three questions. If a parliamentarian is deseated over floor-crossing, what is the legal position of his vote? His vote should be counted or not. And if a parliamentarian defects, his disqualification is for his term or for good? He said Article 62 F/1 did not explain the disqualification period and the Supreme Court, in its explanation, had declared it for good.

The attorney general said there were different clauses on allowing a parliamentarian to the assembly and stopping him from casting his vote. He said there was a court decision on a clause of the Constitution in the Ayesha Gulalai case, but now three or four clauses were being explained. Apparently, he said it seemed that a parliamentarian would be deseated after casting the vote but there was some confusion about the constitutional value of his vote. He said there should be a debate on this issue and the Supreme Court’s decision would enlighten all the parties. The issue concerns all the parties not a single one, he said, adding all the political parties have had faced floor-crossings at different points of time.

Khalid Javed Khan said there was no decision to disqualify a parliamentarian through an ordinance. He said he had no talk with the Law Ministry in this context. After considering all options, he said the safest way for the government was to approach the Supreme Court. He said he believed that the National Assembly speaker would act on the no-trust motion as per the Constitution. In the Constitution, there is an exemption for the speaker on running the house. There are several SC decisions on this issue. It is a common trend that the house proceedings are not challenged in a court of law. But if an act is totally illegal, the court has the authority to review it, he said.