PESHAWAR: A lawyer moved thePeshawar High Court (PHC) against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's interim Chief MinisterJustice (retd) Arshad Hussain Shah's appointment, saying it was “in violation of the provisions of the Constitution”, The News reported Wednesday.
The development came a day after Shah was sworn in as the caretaker chief minister after his predecessor Mohammad Azam Khan passed away after a brief illness.
The petitioner, Advocate Tajammul Hussain Shah, filed the petition through his lawyers Wali Khan Afridi and Shah Faisal. The caretaker chief minister, his cabinet, law secretary, federal government and advocate general were made respondents in the plea.
The petitioner told the court that Arshad was appointed as the caretaker chief minister on the second day of the death of Khan, requesting thecourt to declare the appointment null and void.
He argued that thecaretaker government had lost its credibility, adding that thepetition that the appointment made was in violation of the set procedure laid down in the Constitution. He said the procedure mentioned in Articles 224 and 224-A of the Constitution was not followed while making the appointment.
The petitioner argued that the KP Assembly stood dissolved when making the appointment. He further said that Mahmood Khan was no longer the chief minister and Akram Khan Durrani the opposition leader so they were not the authorised persons for the consultation.
He said that the caretaker government was supposed to run the day-to-day affairs and facilitate the holding of a free, fair and transparent election. Still, it had failed to perform its constitutional obligations.
The caretaker government has overstepped its authority, it added. The petitioner believed that the caretaker government was following a political agenda and it could influence the conduct of the free, fair and transparent election.