Petition seeking removal of Punjab governor over authority breach filed in LHC

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 05 Jan 2023

A petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday, seeking the removal of Punjab Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman for breaching his authority.

Mian Shabir Asmail lodged the writ petition through his counsel Advocate Azhar Siddique.

In the plea, he noted that the governor breached his authority by asking Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi to seek a vote of confidence from the provincial assembly, without any reason.

The governor could not issue an order for the trust vote until an ongoing assembly session was prorogued, the petitioner said.

A letter had also been written to the President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif seeking removal of Punjab governor, but no response was received; petitioner.

The petition prayed that de-notification of the chief minister must be declared “as ultra vires (beyond the powers), as it provides a naked, uncontrolled and vague power to the governor to take any action without any limitation and a time restriction in the interest of justice, equity and fair play”.

“The governor did not only transgress his powers, but also violated various constitutional provisions and negated the rules as set-out in the rules of procedure for the Provincial Assembly of Punjab 1997,” petition added.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry on Friday said that the Punjab governor’s notification to de-notify Parvez Elahi as Punjab CM was unconstitutional and the court order had endorsed it.

Addressing media in Lahore right after LHC suspended the Punjab governor’s notification, he said that the governor committed misconduct and violated the Constitution.

Earlier, he also tweeted that PTI leadership will send a reference to President Alvi seeking removal of Punjab’s governor.