Islamabad :
The Supreme Court of Pakistan has fixed for reference hearing filed by the President for interpretation of Article 63-A regarding disqualification of dissident members.
A five-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial will hear the reference on April 18. The five-member bench comprises Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Mian Khel and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel.
Earlier, the apex court had fixed April 12 for the presidential reference hearing filed by the president, however, the hearing of the presidential reference was adjourned at the request of the Additional Attorney General.
In this regard, the spokesperson of the Supreme Court said that the application for adjournment has been requested due to non-appointment of the new Attorney General, due to which the hearing of the application has been postponed.
It may be recalled that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had constituted a five-member larger bench on March 22 to hear the presidential reference filed for the interpretation of Article 63-A of the Constitution.
Following the motion of no-confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan, a reference was filed in the Supreme Court for interpretation of Article 63A of the Constitution for possible disqualification on the part of government members for changing allegiance, in which four questions were raised.
According to a statement issued by the Presidency in this regard, President Dr. Arif Alvi had approved to file a reference in the Supreme Court under Article 186 of the Constitution.
The President, on the advice of the Prime Minister, had sought the opinion of the Supreme Court on the aims and objectives of Article 63A of the Constitution, its scope and other related matters.
The statement said that in view of the spirit of the Constitution, which interpretation of Article 63A would be acceptable for preventing the menace of deviation and transparency of the electoral process, democratic accountability.
The statement said that in case of deviation, it does not allow any pre-emptive action such as any kind of ban or barring from contesting fresh elections except de-seating the member as per the prescribed procedure.
The statement called for a strong and meaningful interpretation that would disqualify a member involved in such a constitutionally prohibited act for life and neutralize the effects of the deviant vote and uproot the practice.
He asked whether the vote of a member who is involved in a constitutionally prohibited and morally reprehensible act would be counted or such votes could be excluded.
It may be recalled that the decision of the government to file a reference for the interpretation of Article 63A came at a time when several PTI lawmakers were hiding in Sindh House Islamabad and the no-confidence motion was being investigated. It was revealed that he supported the opposition.
