PESHAWAR: The administering of an oath by President Dr Arif Alvi to Supreme Court Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa was challenged in the Peshawar High Court on Friday with the petition seeking a ruling that no partisan person can administer the oath to the chief justice of Pakistan.

Petitioner Shahid Orakzai, a freelance journalist, prayed the court to direct the Senate chairman or National Assembly speaker to administer fresh oath to the chief justice of Pakistan.

The petitioner said the high court should request the chief justice of Pakistan not to hold the court himself and let the court be regulated through Article 180 of the Constitution until the high court gave a ruling on the oath made on Jan 18, 2019. The only respondent in the petition is the country’s president.

Petition seeks ruling no partisan person can administer oath to chief justice

The petitioner posed two questions to the court whether a person, who takes part in an election to the National Assembly seeking victory for his political party, can conduct the oath to the chief justice of Pakistan and whether Article 43 of the Constitution allows the president in office to cast a vote in the by-election for a National Assembly seat.

The petitioner said Justice Asif Saeed Khosa was not to blame as perhaps, he did not know about the continued political activities of the president.

He said the president flew to Karachi on Oct 20, 2018, and the very next morning he went to poll his secret ballot in the by-election in the NA-247 constituency. The petitioner added that the by-election was held to fill vacant seat under Article 223 of the Constitution. He said after casting his secret ballot, the president made a loud appeal on private news channels to members of his party to show up in large numbers.

The petitioner said Article 226 of the Constitution insisted that all elections under the Constitution should be held by a secret ballot, but the ballot cast by the president was more than ‘secret’.

He contended that it would be appropriate if the high court examined the public statement made by the president after casting vote and that the statement would best reflect on his impartiality and neutrality as the president.

The petitioner claimed that the high court should know that for all practical purposes, the president couldn’t impose the governor’s rule in Sindh as his intention was already known to the people of the province.

“The president cannot competently appoint a governor in any province and even the appointment of Sindh governor has become unconstitutional hereafter,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2019