ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will announce its decision on a petition seeking disqualification of Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Monday.

A single-member bench of Justice Aamer Farooq will announce the decision in an open court.

The petitioner challenged the eligibility of Mr Sanjrani contending that he cannot become the acting president of Pakistan because he doesn’t meet the requirements set by the Constitution.

Under Constitution, Sadiq Sanjrani cannot become acting president because he is below 45 years of age, says petition

According to Article 49 of the Constitution, the Senate chairman becomes acting president in the absence of the head of state. However, Article 41 states that the individual needs to be more than 45 years of age.

The petition pointed out that Mr Sanjrani was 40 years old and did not qualify the basic requirement to hold the office of the president in the absence of President Dr Arif Alvi.

In response to the petition, Mr Sanjrani in his para-wise comments filed before the IHC stated: “The petitioner has filed instant petition with mala fide intentions.”

He said the petition was filed without any just cause of action and a similar plea had already been dismissed by Balochistan High Court.

Furthermore, the petitioner has no locus standi (right to speak) in this matter.

Mr Sanjrani said: “The Constitution is paramount, and can only be amended by parliament in the manner provided therein. The petitioner challenging the spirit of the constitutional scheme is acting malafidely, seeking to obtain judgement which may be contrary to the said scheme.”

The written reply claimed that “the petitioner apparently seems to be habitual and trying to defame the constitutional officeholders without any just and proper cause and ground.”

It requested the court to dismiss the petition with cost.

After preliminary hearing, Justice Aamer Farooq sought a reply from the Ministry of Law.

The law ministry in its written reply contended that the petition was not maintainable and the petitioner had no locus standi. It also said the IHC lacked jurisdiction as the petitioner was not an aggrieved person in terms of Article 199 of the Constitution.

Regarding the age of the Senate chairman, the ministry said: “There is always distinction between the eligibility criteria of a person who is regularly elected or appointed to hold a public office and the criteria for a person who is required to hold temporarily in acting capacity on ex-officio basis.”

The mandate of Article 49 is to arrange for a stop-gap arrangement until the president is elected, it said, adding qualification prescribed for the office of the president cannot be construed as the qualification for the acting president.

Deputy Attorney General Raja Khalid Mehmood Khan requested the court to dismiss the petition.

After hearing the arguments, Justice Farooq reserved the verdict on Feb 14.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2019