KARACHI: The deadlock persists between outgoing Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Leader of Opposition Khwaja Izharul Hassan over nomination of caretaker chief minister, though the Sindh Assembly has already been dissolved on May 28.

When the outgoing Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani was asked how parliamentary committee could be formed when the assembly was already dissolved, Mr Durrani said according to Article 224 (1A) of the constitution, Mr Shah and Mr Hassan still had one more day (Thursday) to reach a decision.

“If they fail to reach a conclusion, the matter will then be referred to the parliamentary committee,” he added.

The committee would be constituted by the speaker comprising two members from the ruling party and two from the opposition.

The names would be suggested by the outgoing chief minister and the leader of the opposition.

Article 224 of the constitution says “in case the chief minister and the leader of the opposition of the outgoing assembly do not agree on any person to be appointed as the caretaker chief minister within three days of the dissolution of that assembly, they shall forward two names each to a committee to be constituted by the speaker of the assembly comprising four members of the outgoing assembly having equal representation from the treasury and the opposition, to be nominated by the chief minister and the leader of the opposition respectively”.

The committee constituted under clause (2) shall finalise the name of the caretaker chief minister within three days of the referral of the matter to it.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2018