ISLAMABAD, Nov 23: The government issued on Saturday a notification seeking restoration of remaining Articles of the Constitution dealing with Senate elections, disqualification of members, powers of governors and chief ministers, in a phased manner, till Dec 31, 2002.
Article 63, which deals with the disqualification of the members of parliament, will come into force on the day when the Senate will take oath.
The conditions spelt out in the Article, including the one regarding defection, will be applicable for the members of the Senate from day one, whereas the members of the lower house of parliament were given an exemption by the government and room to switch sides by keeping it in abeyance when the regime partially restored the Constitution last week before the inaugural session of the National Assembly.
Articles 59 to 63 and Articles 232 to 239 will also be revived when Senate takes oath. The Articles from 232 to 239, both inclusive, pertain to the president’s powers of proclaiming emergency and parliament’s powers to amend the Constitution.
The Articles from 105 to 127 will be restored on the day the first chief minister takes oath. However, the notification specified date of Nov 25 for the revival of Articles 101 to 104, 106 to 126 and 128 to 138.
Articles 101 to 105 spell out the procedure for the appointment of governors and their powers. The Articles from 106 to 126 pertain to the composition and constitution of provincial assemblies, their tenure, financial powers and disqualification of provincial assembly members.
Article 128 empowers the governors to promulgate the ordinances while Articles 129 to 138 are regarding the provincial governments, formation of provincial cabinets, dissolution of provincial assemblies on the advice of the chief minister and duties of the chief ministers.
AMENDED ORDINANCE: The government also issued anti-terrorism second amendment ordinance, 2002, on Saturday night.
Besides amending some clauses of the Anti-terrorism Act, 1997, it also replaced Section 14 with a new one, spelling out the composition and appointment of judges of anti-terrorism courts.
According to the new section, a first class magistrate or an advocate with an experience of 10 years could also be appointed as the judges of anti-terrorism courts.
The president, under the powers assumed by him through the controversial Legal Framework Order, authorized the governors to exercise the powers of the chief ministers till the swearing in of the chief ministers.
“Notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution or any other law for the time being in force, the governor shall continue to act as such and shall perform all functions and exercise all powers of the chief ministers and pass all appropriate Orders till the chief minister takes oath of office in accordance with the Constitution,” it said.
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