ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) took a plea in the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the National Assembly speaker’s decision to accept or reject resignations of its lawmakers is a matter that falls outside the jurisdiction of the judiciary.

In a rejoinder filed by the PTI through its counsel Hamid Khan, it requested the court to reject the petition filed against its legislators “for inherently being a frivolous petition”.

The petition was filed by former PML-N Senator Zafar Ali Shah seeking a judicial declaration that the seats of lawmakers belonging to the PTI and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) stood vacant from the date they tendered their resignation to the speaker of the assembly and the Senate chairman on the grounds that the resignations had attained finality after being submitted.

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The legislators of the two parties have withdrawn their resignations after the government accepted their demands for establishment of an inquiry commission to inquire into allegations of rigging in the 2013 general elections and a grievance redressal committee to address its concerns over Karachi operations.

Mr Shah has also filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the April 13 order of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to reject his petition challenging the National Assembly speaker’s ruling of refusing to accept mass resignations of PTI members.

Questioning the locus standi (legal right) of Mr Shah to file the appeal in the apex court, the rejoinder said that the high court had rightly dismissed his petition in limine.

“The matter of resignations of members of the National Assembly falls outside the jurisdiction of high courts as it exclusively relates to the functioning of parliament. Therefore the high court had correctly held that the matter was outside the parameters of its jurisdiction,” the reply said.

Likewise, it said, whatever decision the National Assembly’s speaker would make was outside the jurisdiction of the high court under Article 199 of the constitution.

The powers of the speaker in relation to proceedings of the National Assembly were not subject to the jurisdiction of any court, the rejoinder said. The absence of PTI members from assembly sessions after submitting resignations did not fall within the ambit of Article 64(2) of the constitution, it added.

The reply said that the matter of vacation of seats by the members of the lower house due to their absence was exclusively within the domain of the powers of the house. Since the National Assembly did not take up the matter, it could not be taken up in a court of law, it argued.

The rejoinder said that the high court had correctly held that the validity of resignations submitted as political protest made the issue non-justiciable on the basis of doctrine of political question.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2015