KARACHI – The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday reissued notices to the federal government and the Attorney General (AG) seeking their explanations on a constitutional petition regarding dual offices held by the president of the country.
A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Maqbool Baqir issued the notices again to the respondents for the next hearing, as no representative on behalf of the federal government appeared before the court.
Challenging the dual offices held by President Asif Ali Zardari, petitioner Rasheed A Akhund had submitted that the president was holding two offices – the country’s presidential office with powers to run government affairs and a political party’s leadership – in violation of the constitution.
Submitting that the president must be a representative of all four provinces and should not be controversial, the plaintiff alleged that the current president was exceeding his powers and violating the constitution. Citing the president, the senate chairman, the National Assembly speaker, the federal law minister, the Law, Parliament Affairs and Establishment Division secretaries among others as respondents in the petition, Akhund had submitted that according to the constitution, the prime minister and the cabinet have full powers of running the country but the president enjoys the same powers and was not ready to transfer this to the elected cabinet.
He also alleged that the federal law minister had given several controversial statements against the judiciary and should be held for contempt of court.
The petitioners appealed to the court that the president be stopped from exceeding his constitutional powers and ordered to quit one of his offices. ADVOCATE GENERAL’S AGE CASE: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday directed the Sindh Bar Council (SBC) secretary to inform the court about the date of birth (DOB) of Sindh Advocate General Abdul Fatah Malik within 10 days.
A division bench, comprising Justice Muhammad Athar Saeed and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, was proceeding on a constitutional petition challenging the appointment of Malik due to overage. Petitioner Abdul Salam Memon had submitted that Malik was appointed on the criterion that he could become a high court judge under Article No 140 of the Constitution of Pakistan; however, after the resignation of the previous advocate general, 69-year-old Malik was appointed in his place, whereas the retirement age of a high court judge is 62 years.
