IHC dismisses PTI's plea for acceptance of resignations in one go

• IHC also dismisses plea seeking formation of larger bench in case.
• PTI wanted the resignations of all its 123 MNAs to be accepted.
• IHC declares Suri's order of accepting resignations as null and void.

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Tuesday dismissed a PTI plea seeking the acceptance of the party's members of the National Assembly in one go.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the case filed by the PTI challenging the acceptance of resignations of 11 MNAs and not accepting a "piece-meal" resignation of all 123 lawmakers.

The IHC CJ declared former NA deputy speaker Qasim Suri's resignation acceptance order void and ordered every MNA to appear before the NA speaker in person to get their resignation accepted.

IHC CJ Minallah also rejected PTI lawyer Faisal Chaudhry's plea to take up the case with a larger bench.

Two days after PTI Chairman Imran Khan was ousted as the prime minister — through a no-confidence motion moved by the then-opposition — all PTI MNAs resigned en masse on April 11.

Suri — who was performing his duties as the acting NA speaker after Asad Qaiser resigned as the speaker — had accepted all the resignations on April 15.

However, once Raja Pervez Ashraf was appointed as the speaker, he decided to verify the resignations of all MNAs by interviewing them individually.

The decision was taken after reports that several resignations submitted by the lawmakers were typed and not handwritten — which is against the NA's rules.

PTI's petition

PTI Secretary-General Asad Umar — on behalf of his party — had filed a plea in the IHC on August 1 after the NA speaker accepted the resignations of 11 MNAs.

In the petition, the PTI leader demanded that all 123 MNAs should be de-notified together and their seats are declared vacant.

Asad, in the petition filed through his counsel Shoaib Shaheen, stated the PTI MNAs had tendered their resignation after the no-confidence vote, and Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced the decision.

The then-deputy speaker Qasim Suri had accepted the resignations, the petitioner stated, contending that the sitting speaker has no authority to delay the acceptance of resignations.

He maintained that the speaker is bound to send the resignations to the ECP, which would announce by-elections on the vacant seats.