SC adjourns hearing on Presidential reference seeking interpretation of Article 63-A.

ISLAMABAD -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned hearing on Presidential reference seeking its opinion on Article 63-A of the Constitution till Thursday.

A five-member larger bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justic Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel heard the Presidential reference.

During the course of proceedings, Advocate Farooq H Naek counsel for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said that Article 58-(2)-B was abrogated in 1997 through the 13th Amendment but was brought back by former President Pervez Musharraf through Legal Framework Order (LFO) 2002. He said that the the Pakistan People Party (PPP) again removed Article 58-(2)-B through the 18th Constitutional Amendment in 2010.

Naek said that the Article 63-A was made a part of the Constitution through the 14th Amendment and it gave broad powers to party heads.

He said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did have not have the authority to reject the party head's decision prior to a presidential order amending Article 63-A in 2002 that reduced the powers of party heads.

He said that the 18th Amendment further reduced the powers of party heads and transferred them to the parliamentary leaders of the parties and after the amendment in Article 63-A, the authority to make the final decision was given to the Supreme Court.

Naek said that according to the 18th Amendment, the authority to make a decision on a reference related to Article 63-A was given to the ECP. The amendment also bound the ECP to announce a decision within a month, he added.

He said that the presidential reference seeking the court's opinion was only related to sub-clause 4 of Article 63-A.

Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan pointed out that Article 62(1)(f) did not specify the length of disqualification but its interpretation was provided by the apex court.

Naek responded that Parliament had not determined the length of disqualification for defecting lawmakers under Article 63-A.

The Chief Justice said that Article 63-A made loyalty conditional on party policy on four occasions and loyalty was a basic constitutional principle. The purpose of Article 63A was to ensure loyalty to the party, he added.

Justice Ijaz said that ticket holders swear in their nomination papers that they would not deviate from party policy.

Naek said that the rules for punishing a party worker for violating party discipline were...