LAHORE, May 3: The Punjab Assembly speaker on Tuesday rejected on ‘technical grounds’ PML-N references seeking disqualification of its three defecting MPAs.
PML-N parliamentary leader Rana Sanaullah had submitted the references under Clause 63-A against Ahad Malik, Begum Rehana Jameel and Saba Sadiq for crossing floor and joining the ruling PML.
Speaker Afzal Sahi on Tuesday summoned representatives of both the ruling and the Nawaz League and after hearing their point of views asked Rana Sana to prove his status as the parliamentary leader of his party.
“The constitution is silent on the status and election of a parliamentary leader. You should consult your friends and lawyers as how to prove your authority for filing the references as the parliamentary leader and only then further proceedings will be held,” he told Rana.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, the speaker said the references carried no weight unless the stature of the filing authority was determined.
Only courts could interpret the spirit of any clause (of the constitution), he said when asked what could be done in the absence of definition of the parliamentary leader in the basic law.
Merely addressing any member as parliamentary leader of a party in the house proceedings could not be made the basis for taking such a big step of unseating an honourable member, he told a questioner.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raja Basharat supported the speaker’s view and said that the notices served on the three MPAs by Rana Sana seeking their explanation for changing loyalties were unconstitutional and illegal as these were not in accordance with requirements of the Clause 63-A.
He told reporters that both assembly rules and house record were also silent on how to determine a parliamentary leader.
He claimed that Rana Sana too had accepted their point that the authority of the person filing a reference should be established first.
Answering a question, he said it was up to the courts to interpret relevant clauses of the constitution on how to determine parliamentary leader of a party.
Rana Sana said if the speaker did not decide the matter they (the PML-N) would be forced to move a court of law as well as contesting it in the house.
He wondered that how the speaker had questioned his status as the parliamentary leader while he had been attending the assembly’s business advisory committee meetings in the same capacity for the last over two years.
“The map in assembly premises about the allocation of seats to various members as well as marking of the seats in the house also mentioned me as leader of the PML-N in the house,” he said.
The Rana alleged that despite his repeated requests the speaker neither himself suggested any procedure for establishing his status nor he accepted the ways proposed by him, showing his (Mr Sahi’s) mala fide intentions.
Interestingly, the replies sent by defectors Ahad Malik and Rehana Jameel in response to the PML-N notices also address Rana Sana as parliamentary leader of the party.
Both the letters also carried same wording: “It is pointed out that the notice is irrelevant, unconstitutional and without locus standi.”
The letter of Begum Rehana Jameel, who had been notified as parliamentary secretary by the law department on Feb 21, did not carry even her signatures.