LAHORE, July 9: The Punjab Assembly speaker has refused to accept Qasim Zia, Rana Sanaullah and Asghar Gujjar as parliamentary leaders of the PPP, the PML-N and the MMA, respectively, in his formal ruling. Chaudhry Afzal Sahi had reserved the ruling, sought by Samiullah Khan, Arshad Baggu, Ehsan Naulatia and other opposition members, during budget session on June 12.

The ruling was dispatched to the three on July 8.

It says that he (the speaker) could not find any provision in the constitution and laws about who should be considered as parliamentary leader of a political party.

The three people also failed to submit any legal documents in this respects, the ruling says, adding the chair has no authority to interpret any constitutional provision.

It may be mentioned that the speaker’s ruling cannot be challenged in any court of law.