ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court will resume hearing of the Presidential Reference today seeking interpretation of Article 63-A of the Constitution.
A five-member larger bench of the Court headed by Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial is hearing the case.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court started hearing the presidential reference filed by the federal government seeking the interpretation of Article 63(A), which deals with the disqualification of the lawmakers over defection.
The country’s chief justice had formed a five-member larger bench — selecting a judge from each province — to hear the presidential reference. The bench includes Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Aijazul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel.
Notices for the hearing have been issued to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s lawyer Ali Zafar, PPP’s lawyer Farooq H Naek, PML-N’s lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl’s lawyer Kamran Murtaza, as well as the advocate general for Sindh, Islamabad inspector general of police, interior secretary and president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), among others.
The government had decided to approach the apex Court for interpretation of Article 63(A) as several PTI lawmakers announced to vote on the no-trust motion, in a violation of the party policy.
In the reference, the government sought the apex court’s opinion on two interpretations of Article 63(A) and which one should be adopted and implemented to achieve the constitutional objective of curbing the menace of defections, purification of the electoral process, and democratic accountability.
The reference stated if the constitutional disapproval and prohibition against defection was effectively enforced with deterrence for the future as well, many such members would stand disqualified for life under Article 62(1)(f) and would never be able to pollute democratic streams.
“It was barely a year ago in the wake of elections for the Senate that compelling evidence in the form of audio and video recordings showing horse-trading emerged leaving the identities of perpetrators in no doubt yet nothing meaningful has been done in that respect till date,” the reference read.
The reference stated: “The questions of law of public importance revolving around the interpretation of Article 63A of the Constitution have arisen in the context of the unending malaise of floor crossing and defections that have sullied and damaged the purity of the democratic process in the country for decades.”
