Amid the constitutional crisis in Pakistan, the Supreme Court on Tuesday, 5 April, adjourned the hearing in the case against National Assembly (NA) Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, who rejected the motion for no-confidence against PM Imran Khan, for Wednesday, Geo News reported.
A five-member expanded bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, was hearing the case on Tuesday.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani told the SC that Suri had no legal authority to give such a ruling. He said:
"Deputy speaker's ruling is illegal...no-trust motion cannot be rejected without voting on it."
The chief justice said that the SC would announce the decision after hearing all parties.
CJP Bandial had taken suo motu cognisance of the crisis on Sunday and had created a three-member bench to hear the matter. He expanded the bench to five members on Monday.
No-Confidence Vote Against Imran Khan
Citing national security reasons, Suri had disallowed the no-trust vote against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman on Sunday, 3 April, and the Opposition had alleged that it was 'unconstitutional'.
Imran Khan was "de-notified" as prime minister on Sunday, after the National Assembly was dissolved, which means that he will not have the powers to make decisions like an elected head of the government.
Khan has appealed to the people for fresh elections.
However, under Article 224 of the Constitution of Pakistan, he can retain his post for 15 days until a caretaker PM is appointed.
Nominations for Caretaker PM
Meanwhile, Khan has nominated former chief justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed as the caretaker Prime Minister of the country on Monday.
Ahmed was sworn in as the 27th chief justice of Pakistan in December 2019 after the retirement of Asif Saeed Khosa. He held the post till February 2022.
The proposal of Ahmed's name as caretaker PM comes after a letter was written by President Arif Alvi to the Prime Minister as well as the Leader of the Opposition, Shehbaz Sharif, to propose names for the post of caretaker PM.
The crisis had begun in early March when around 100 lawmakers from Pakistan's Opposition parties had submitted a no-confidence motion against the ruling government in the National Assembly Secretariat.
(With inputs from Geo News.)
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