LAHORE, Oct 18: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday declared the appointment of 16 Punjab government advisers illegal and barred them from holding their respective offices.

The court observed that their appointments had been made by the provincial governor who was not competent to do so. The governor, it said, could only appoint five advisers to the chief minister and as many special assistants and if they were holding the same offices in excess to the number stipulated by the law, they should also be relieved of their offices.

Justice Mian Hamid Farooq in his short order said that neither the 1973 Constitution, nor the Rules of Business, or any other law empowered the governor to order the appointment of advisers to the provincial government. As a result, the notification for the appointment of advisers to the government, which were issued in gross contravention of Rule 6-A of the Rules of Business enforced under Article 139(3) of the Constitution, stood cancelled, annulled and quashed as they were without jurisdiction and unlawful.

The court directed the Punjab chief secretary to cancel the notifications of the advisers’ appointment and withdraw all privileges and perks attached to the offices of the advisers to the provincial government because they ceased to exist along with their offices.

The court thus accepted the constitutional writ petition through which Maulana Malik Shah Mohammad, a local prayer leader, had challenged the appointment of advisers to the Punjab government. The petitioner called into question the appointment of Mian Mohammad Munir and Chaudhry Akhtar Rasool in particular because, he said, that they were not qualified for holding any office of benefit after being convicted by the Supreme Court along with Tariq Aziz and seven others under the Contempt of Court Ordinance for attacking the apex court. Advocate Shahid Maqbool represented the petitioner.

The court held that Mian Munir and Akhtar Rasool were appointed as advisers to the Punjab government not only in contravention of the Constitution and the Rules of Business, 1974, but also in violation of a Supreme Court decision as reported in 2000 SCMR 1969 under which Tariq and eight others were convicted for an assault on the apex court.

Justice Hamid Farooq declared that they (Mian Munir and Akhtar Rasool) would not be appointed as advisers or any office of profit in the provincial government as well as the federal government in any manner and any nomenclature at any stage in the future. It may be recalled that the LHC has already restrained the two from working as advisers to the provincial government. Their appointment was annulled by the court at the early stage of the hearing of the writ petition with the direction to the chief secretary to withdraw their perks and privileges.

The court, however, held that Rule 6-A of the Punjab Government Rules of Business, 1974, was a legislation validly enacted by the provincial government in exercise of powers conferred by Article 139(3) of the Constitution.

The order said that the chief minister was competent to appoint five advisers to him as enshrined under Rule 6-A read with Section 3 of the Punjab Advisers (Allowances and Privileges) Ordinance, 2002. As such, the appointment of advisers to the chief minister was valid and ordered by a competent authority, according to the LHC decision.

As for the appointment of special assistants, Justice Hamid Farooq declared that the law allowed the appointment of five of them under the Special Assistants (Allowances and Privileges)Ordinance, 2002.

The court directed the government that the number of the advisers to the chief minister and special assistants should not exceed five. Any appointment in excess to this number should be withdrawn.