18 ordinances issued during plea pendency, IHC told.

ISLAMABAD -- A lawmaker of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has informed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government has promulgated 18 ordinances during the pendency of his petition filed against 'excessive' presidential ordinances.

MNA Mohsin Nawaz Ranjha, who filed the petition through Barrister Umar Gillani, challenged the powers of President Dr Arif Alvi to issue ordinances to run the affairs of the government instead of making proper legislation through parliament. Initially, it challenged eight ordinances.

The case of the petitioner is that the ordinance-making power is an emergency provision and is not meant for routine legislation. This is clear from Article 89 of the Constitution which places strict conditions on the exercise of ordinance-making power. It is to be exercised only when doing so is necessary for responding to an emergency situation (such as war, famine, epidemic or rebellion) which arises after the prorogation of one session of Parliament and where waiting for the next session would cause irreparable loss to the people of Pakistan.

MNA Ranjha says govt is unfairly taking advantage of pendency of petition

That data suggests that, unfortunately, the ordinance-making power has been constantly abused by successive governments. It appears that more than 2,500 ordinances have been promulgated by presidents of Pakistan since 1947. This practice, which amounts to transgression by the executive into the legislature's domain, is continuing in Pakistan, the petition pointed out.

The petitioner has assailed eight Ordinances promulgated by the President on Oct 30, 2019. Vide order dated Nov 13, 2019, the court admitted the petition and issued notices. Since then, the case has been taken up for hearing on many dates.

According to the petition, the government is unfairly taking advantage of the pendency of the petition and is promulgating fresh ordinances related to ordinary legislative matters, at full throttle, thereby sidelining Parliament. The ordinances promulgated during the pendency of this petition include, Special Technology Zones Authority Ordinance, 2020, Federal Medical Teaching Institutes Ordinance, 2020, Pakistan Islands Development Authority Ordinance, 2020, International Court of Justice (Review and Re-consideration) Ordinance, 2020, Companies (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT