ISLAMABAD, May 11: Questions were being raised here on Wednesday if Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh would be able to present the next federal budget after the Supreme Court asked the government to come up with a solution on the position of a number of MNAs and senators elected by an election commission which was yet to meet the criteria of the 18th Amendment. “We are not going to become a party in the constitution deviation by condoning the violation, otherwise we would ourselves be guilty of this breach,” Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry observed. He asked Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq to talk to people at the helm of affairs to do something and come up with a solution.

The Supreme Court ordered the ECP to submit a comprehensive reply indicating the status of by-elections it had organised after the 18th Amendment without the presence of the commission.

Questions were raised about the position of some key cabinet members after the court at its last hearing had issued notices to Hafeez Shaikh, Prime Minister's Adviser on Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain, three senators, nine MNAs and 11 MPAs elected after the 18th Amendment.

They include Senator Syed Sajid Hussain Zaidi; MNAs Chaudhry Asghar Ali Jutt (NA-167, Vehari-I), Jamshed Ahmed Dasti (NA-178, Muzaffargarh-III), Muhammad Akhtar Khan Kanju (NA-155, Lodhran-II), Sardar Muhammad Shafqat Hayat Khan (NA-68, Sargodha-V), Choudhary Tassadaq Masud Khan (NA-100, Gujranwala-VI), Haji Khuda Bux Rajar (NA-235, Old Sanghar-II), Ms Khadija Aamir Yar Malik (NA-184, Bahawalpur-II), Sardar Mumtaz Khan (NA-61, Chakwal-II) and Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari (NA-172. D.G. Khan-II); MPAs Ghulam Qadir Khan Bettani (PK-69, Tank), Muhammad Rashad Khan (PK-87, Shangla-I), Molvi Muhammad Sarwar Musakhel (PB-15, Musakhel), Saifuddin Khalid (PS-94, Karachi-VI), Syed Basit Ahmed Sultan (PP-259, Muzafargarh-IV), Mian Muhammad Ajmal Asif (PP-63, Faisalabad-XII), Ahmed Mujtaba Gilani (PP-206, Multan-XIII), Sardar Meer Badshah Qaisrani (PP-240, D.G. Khan-I), Malik Saiful Malook Khokhar (PP-160, Lahore-XXIV), Ijaz Ahmad Kahloon (PP-34, Sargodha-VI) and Malik Ghulam Raza (PP-13, Rawalpindi-XIII).

Dr Hafeez Shaikh was elected on May 21 last year and Dr Asim Hussain on April 17 this year.

Assented by President Asif Ali Zardari on April 20 last year, the 18th Amendment commands the government to appoint a permanent Election Commission which should comprise the Chief Election Commissioner and one member each from the four provinces who should have been a judge of the respective high court -- a constitutional requirement yet to be fulfilled.

Over a dozen MNAs and MPAs attended the Wednesday's proceedings, but the court asked all members elected after the 18th Amendment to appear before it on May 19 and explain whether they held their electoral positions legally.

The attorney general informed the court that the prime minister had initiated the process of completing the commission for which certain names had been sent to Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan for approval.

But the court said it was only concerned with the constitutional deviation and would not enter into any kind of controversy.

Advocate Hamid Khan, the counsel for Imran Khan, told the court that earlier the CEC could hold elections and order preparation of electoral rolls, but after the 18th Amendment only the Election Commission could do these.