The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed the litigant to submit the record of the attendance of advisors and special assistants to Sindh chief minister in Sindh cabinet meetings.
SHC Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, who headed the division bench, passed this direction while hearing a petition filed by Maulvi Iqbal Haider, a practicing lawyer and a chairman of Awami Himayat Tehreek Pakistan, who had moved the court against the appointment of excessive number of advisers and special assistants in the Sindh cabinet and the grant of the status and privileges of the minister to them.
The court questioned the legality of the participation of the advisers and special assistants to the chief minister in the cabinet meetings and asked the petitioner to present the attendance sheets of the cabinet meetings which included the record of their participation.
The lawyer requested the court to put off the matter until it pronounced the verdict reserved on a petition questioning the appointment and grant of minister’s status to Sindh Chief Minister’s Adviser on Law Barrister Murtaza Wahab. The hearing was adjourned till Nov 22.
The petitioner submitted that the chief minister had inducted 17 persons as the members of his cabinet, later on August 7, 2016 the cabinet was elevated further more with induction of 20 new faces.
He argued that large cabinet was the violation of Article 130 (6) of the Constitution of Pakistan that stipulates the government not to exceed the strength of the cabinet from 11 percent of the total membership of the assembly.
The petitioner had requested the court to suspend the operation of the excessive members of the cabinet which according to him were burden on tax payers.