LAHORE: A five-member bench of the Lahore High Court is hearing a petition filed by PML-Q’s Pervaiz Elahi against Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman’s order to de-notify him as chief minister.

The bench, headed by Justice Abid Aziz Shaikh, inquired whether the Pervaiz Elahi would dissolve the Punjab Assembly in his capacity as chief minister if the governor’s order was declared void. The bench also includes Justices Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, Tariq Saleem Sheikh, Asim Hafeez and Muzamil Akhtar Shabir.

Elahi’s counsel Barrister Ali Zafar submitted the affidavit assuring the court that his client would not dissolve the assembly if the governor’s order was declared void.

Following Elahi’s assurance, the court reinstated him as Punjab chief minister and issued notices to all the parties in the case summoning them on January 11.

Justice Shaikh also observed that the chief minister should have abided by the governor’s order to hold a vote of confidence.

Earlier the court took two breaks so that Elahi’s lawyer could confer with his client on the dissolution question. Following the break, the hearing resumed with Ali Zafar, Elahi’s lawyer, telling the court that he could not assure the court at that time that Elahi would dissolve the Punjab Assembly upon reinstatement.

Zafar urged the court to reinstate the chief minister and order him to not dissolve the assembly.

In response, the LHC bench noted that the court could not give interim relief to anyone without any assurance.

A larger bench has been constituted for the second time on Friday on Elahi’s plea. Earlier, Justice Farooq Haider, who was part of the bench, excused himself from the hearing, on after the bench had to be reconstituted.

‘The decision to dissolve Punjab Assemly is final’

Following court’s judgement, Elahi tweeted that the decision to dissolve the assembly was final. “Imran Khan’s decision will be completely implemented.”

The chief minister maintained that the “imported government wants to run away from the elections, we will present the imported government in the people’s court and the final decision will rest with masses”.

Elahi congratulated the people of the province, saying that the ruling marked a victory of their viewpoint adding that we always uphold supremacy of the constitution and rule of law.

Elahi said that the ‘selected’ governor of the ‘imported government’ tried to restore Article 58 (2)b. But, he added, its course had been blocked.

On the resolution against Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman, Elahi said that the resolution presented against the governor in the provincial assembly earlier today was important, and the president was requested to take action against the governor for misconduct and he should be removed from office immediately.

Earlier developments

In a late night development, Punjab Governor Baligh Ur Rehman issued orders ‘de-notifying’ CM Punjab Pervaiz Elahi.

“I am satisfied that he does not command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Punjab Assembly,” the governor said in the order.

The order said that the governor reached this conclusion after the CM ‘refrained’ from obtaining a vote of confidence’.

This also means that the Punjab cabinet was immediately dissolved. However, Pervaiz Elahi will continue to hold office until a successor is appointed.

A few hours after the Punjab governor de-notified Pervaiz Elahi as chief minister, opposition parties withdrew their no-confidence motion.

According to the parties, there was no reason left to pursue the motion as Pervaiz Elahi had already lost power.

However, they made it clear that only the motion against the speaker was withdrawn, and they would still try to proceed against the speaker and the deputy speaker.