Legal experts about Prime Minister’s disqualification

After the Supreme Court released detailed judgment in contempt of court case against Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, legal experts started explaining different facets of the verdict.

Majority of legal minds believe that the counting of Gilani’s possible disqualification as Member of the National Assembly (MNA) would start after the expiry of the 30-day period given for filing of an appeal.

Despite 77-page lengthy verdict, the ambiguity regarding the disqualification of the premier did not resolve. The confusion, according to the legal experts can lead to another legal battle among the institutions.

According to the government, the detailed judgment holds many ambiguities including the question of immunity and disqualification of the premier. Gilani according to many legal experts has the right to appeal within one month.

The countdown period will expand if an appeal is filed. The Speaker of the National Assembly will have one-month period to send a reference to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in case the appeal is rejected.

In the last step, the ECP can unseat the premier within a 90-day period. Apart from explaining the short-order, the detailed judgment did not give any new direction in this regard.

However, some believe that the timeframe for the NA Speaker to send the reference to the ECP had started the day the short order was issued.

President Supreme Court Bar Association Yaseen Azad was of the opinion that the time period leading to the disqualification has started after issuance of the detailed-order.

He observed, “If the appeal is rejected, the time-frame will resume from the day of the rejection of the appeal. The government has 30 days to appeal”.

Former law minister Khalid Ranja said that the court has thrown the ball towards parliament because if the apex court wanted, it could have directly declared the premier disqualified.

He commented, “Filing of an appeal is a matter of basic rights. The court could have clearly stated that Gilani is disqualified”.

Hamid Khan, the lawyer of the Supreme Court claimed that the legal process would have to be completed before disqualifying Gilani as an MNA and subsequently as a prime minister.

In his view, the time-frame for the speaker to send the reference to the ECP had started the day the short order was issued. It will be up to the court to suspend the disqualification process if an appeal is filed.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on May 9 2012. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.