May 19, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 13, 1429

LAHORE, May 18: Top functionaries in PML-N’s Punjab government have started questioning the legality of the 10 provincial ordinances promulgated after the proclamation of emergency on Nov 3, 2007.

The fundamental idea is that the ordinances lack constitutional value as the PML-N and many others insist that the proclamation of emergency and the actions taken under it are void. Therefore, officials say, the ordinances which are necessary for the province should be selected and promulgated afresh by giving legal cover to the actions already taken under them.

The ordinances include the Katchi Abadis Amendment Ordinance, the Motorvehicle Amendment Ordinance, the Historical Areas Development Ordinance and the Punjab Pension Fund Ordinance. Another important ordinance is about banning kite flying and the allied business.

The PML-N does not accept the proclamation of emergency and wants restoration of supreme and high courts’ judges deposed under it.

Senior officers debating the legality of the ordinances said on Sunday the assessment was being made purely on professional grounds and had “no element of politics”.

The legal experts of the caretaker government of Justice Ejaz Nisar (retired) had opined that under Article 5 (2) of the PCO, “all ordinances in force on Nov 3, 2007 shall remain in force irrespective of limitation of duration prescribed by the Constitution”.

They had also mentioned that under clause 1 of the same article, “the constitutional time limit on ordinances shall not apply to those promulgated on or after the imposition of the emergency”.

According to the Constitution, the life of an ordinance promulgated by the president is four months and by a governor three months. All such ordinances lapse if not re-promulgated.

“The opinion now being given is that the actions taken under the proclamation of emergency and the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) were validated by the Revocation of Proclamation of Emergency (RPE).

“The problem is that the RPE has been made superior to the constitution and any other law in force at the time of its proclamation on Dec 15, 2007. And accepting this means destroying the country forever,” a senior official told Dawn.

He said the previous Punjab government had promulgated 10 ordinances some of which were related to important administrative and policy matters, but “since their legality is questionable, one can’t keep them for the sake of administration”.

He said right now there are two opinions on the ordinance -- one, there is no need to re-promulgate them under the Nov 3 order, and second, if this order is accepted there is no need to question the actions taken under it.

He said the dominant view was that if the Nov 3 order was accepted, the country would have problems which would never be resolved. The unique thing in this order was that it was proclaimed by the chief of army staff and not the president, which “is unconstitutional because the army chief cannot sack the judges under the constitution”.

But problem was that elections had been held and the governments formed under the same order. The business of the state had been run under the orders or the ordinances promulgated under it.