LAHORE : After a long and teasing wait, finally Baligh ur Rehman, a Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) leader, sworn in as governor Punjab . Baligh is 39 th governor Punjab.
Lahore High Court (LHC)
Chief Justice , Justice Ameer Bhatti, administrated the oath from the new governor Punjab.
Prime minister, Shahbaz Sharif, had sent an advice to president , Dr Arif Alvi, on April 17, last to replace Omar Sarfraz Cheema , and appoint Baligh ur Rehman as governor Punjab .
Dr Arif Alvi rejected the summary and adviced to Omar Sarfraz Cheema to continue performing his duties as governor Punjab. The president’s act of rejecting the PM summary sent by the prime minister and advicing Omar Sarfraz Cheema his duties as governor Punjab pushed the province into a serious constitutional crisis. Omar Sarfraz Cheema who was fully patronised by speaker Punjab assembly, Chaudhary Pervez Elahi, adopted a ‘Gundasa’ style as constitutional head of the province rather than understanding his constitutional duties and refused to accept Hamza Shahbaz Sharif as new chief executive of the province . Omar Sarfraz Cheema did every act to create confusion in the province that could delay oath taking and formation of the cabinet of Hamza Shahbaz Sharif . The Punjab remained without a government for around one and half months as the new chief minister had no cabinet due to denial of Omar Sarfraz Cheema to take oath from Hamza Shahbaz Sharif’s cabinet.
The role of the president has been extremely questionable . He referred relevant provisions in isolation to justify his unlawful and unconstitutional acts during the last one and half months. After ouster of Imran Khan from power , the president’s acts like refusing to take oath from the federal cabinet and later rejecting twice advice of the prime minister and directing Omar Sarfraz Cheema to continue sitting as governor Punjab put Pakistan into a severe constitutional crisis.
However, after behaving as a spoiler rather than top head of the state , Dr Arif Alvi, has suddenly changed his behaviour a few days ago. After taking a new position suddenly , Dr Arif Alvi summoned a joint session of parliament last week . This is followed by appointing Balig ur Rehman as governor Punjab .
The new posture of Dr Arif Alvi shows he was finally ready to perform his duty as constitutional head of the state . However, the question remains why and how Dr Arif Alvi gave up his posture of a PTI worker rather than the head of the state. is he dee briefed .
“Referring to clause 3 of Article 101 of the Constitution, he stated that ‘the Governor shall hold office during the pleasure of the President’,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, in the statement, the president said that the then governor could not be removed as there was neither any allegation of misconduct nor conviction by any court of law or of any act committed by him contrary to the Constitution of Pakistan.
“It [is my] duty as Head of the State to represent the unity of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in terms of Article 41 of the Constitution,” the president told the premier.
Giving another reason for rejecting the prime minister’s advice, he stated that he was convinced that the removal of the governor would be “unfair and against the norms of justice.”
On May 10, Omar Sarfraz Cheema had been denotified as Punjab governor hours after President Alvi’s rejection to approve PM Shehbaz Sharif’s summary to remove Omar Cheema from his post.
“In terms of Article 101 and proviso to Article 48 (1) of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, read with serial No. 2D of schedule V-B to the Rules of Business, 1973 and the Prime Minister’s advice (s) rendered on 17-04-2022 and 01-05-2022 for removal of Governor of Punjab, Mr Omer Sarfaraz Cheema ceases to hold the office of the Governor Punjab, with immediate effect,” the notification
