ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday annulled its 2022 verdict on the interpretation of Article 63(A) of the Constitution, which barred lawmakers from going against party directions when voting in parliament.
Hearing the Supreme Court Bar Association’s (SCBA) plea, the five-member bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa announced the unanimous verdict and approved the review petition.
The case revolves around the apex court’s previous ruling, which stated that the votes of parliamentarians who deviated from their party’s directives and policies were to be disregarded and not counted.
During the hearing today, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar apprised the court that he met the PTI founder, however, the meeting didn’t have the attorney-client privilege as it was also attended by police officers.
The lawyer further said that the incarcerated ex-prime minister has requested to appear before the court himself and that he wishes to raise certain arguments via virtual appearance.
Reiterating the party’s earlier opposition to the bench, he said that the PTI founder has maintained that the five-member bench hearing the said case wasn’t constituted properly so they won’t be a part of the proceedings.
“If you announce a verdict then there would be a conflict of interest [….] the PTI founder said that the bench is not legal and so there is no point of moving forward,” he remarked, adding that the PTI wanted to distance itself from the court proceedings.”I will not appear before the court if the PTI founder is not given permission [to present his arguments],” he noted.
However, the lawyer’s repeated mention of Khan didn’t sit well with the CJP who said: “Why are you taking [Imran] Khan’s name again and again, [you should] talk without taking [any] names.”
Furthermore, the top judge also warned the counsel of contempt of court proceedings on his remarks regarding a perception that the court will allow horse-trading in light of the Constitutional amendments expected to be tabled by the government.
“We can hold you in contempt of court [for this statement],” said CJP Isa.
Moving on, the chief justice asked Barrister Zafar if he would be ready to act as amicus curiae to which the latter replied in the affirmative.
The court then appointed the lawyer as amicus curiae after SCBA President Shahzad Shaukat said that he didn’t oppose the said notion after which the PTI lawyer continued his arguments before the court.
Defection clause issue
The issue at hand owes its origins to a reference filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in the SC back in 2022, seeking the apex court’s opinion on Article 63(A) to curbing the menace of defections, purification of the electoral process, and democratic accountability.
The court, via a 3-2 judgement, had then announced the verdict against defections and barred lawmakers from going against their party’s policy lines when voting in the parliament.
Three judges — then-CJP Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, and Justice Munib — had voted in favour whereas Justice Mandokhail and Justice Mazhar disagreed with the verdict.
The SCBA then filed a plea moving the apex court to take back its opinion on the verdict’s paragraph about not counting the votes of dissidents by reviewing the interpretation made on May 17, 2022.
It maintained that the dissidents should only be de-seated but their votes are supposed to be counted as per the Constitution of Pakistan.
“The apex court’s opinion about not counting the dissident’s votes is against the Constitution and equal to interference in it,” the SCBA stated in the plea.
