LHC forms full bench

LAHORE - The Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court has constituted a full bench to take up couple of similar writ petitions questioning Shahbaz Sharif’s eligibility to hold the office of Chief Minister after his election from PP-10 Rawalpindi.  
The bench comprising Justice Maulvi Anwarul Haq, Justice Muhammad Khalid Alvi and Justice Syed Sajjad Shah are likely to hear the cases in next week.
Shahid Orakzai, a freelance journalist, in his petitions demanded that Mian Shahbaz Sharif was unable to hold the office of the CM since June 21 after being elected from PP 10.
He submitted that Mian Shahbaz took oath as the CM on June 08 as Punjab assembly member from PP 48, according to the article 223 (4), he lost his seat in the assembly on June 21 in consequence of the notification of his unopposed return from PP 10.
He said instead of obeying the constitution in letter and spirit, particularly clause (4) of the article, Shahbaz had chosen to bypass the given course by a tricky resignation from his second seat.
Shahbaz is adamant that he can still hold his first seat in defiance of article 223, he said.
Orakzai prayed that the Punjab chief secretary be directed to ensure vacation of CM office and report all the decisions taken by the CM after June 21 to the governor as required under clause (c) of the Article 131 of the Constitution.  He is no more the leader of the house in the assembly and as such he cannot hold the office of the CM or participate in the meetings of the assembly or any committee thereof, he said.
The petitioner said that secretary election commission had made a public statement that constituency PP-48 stands vacated as a result of Shahbaz’s unopposed return in PP-10 but he was visibly trying to reverse the constitutional operation to suit his personal convenience and unlawful interest. He said his refusal to vacate the seat as he elected earlier was a clear betrayal of his oath as the CM.
He further added that the election commission had not formally responded to the reported resignation. He said after June 21, Shahbaz had no constitutional authority to continue in office and he was visibly subverting the constitution by force and other positional means.
He added that he apprehended that Shahbaz may dissolve the Punjab Assembly although he was not empowered to invoke that power of the CM.