Lahore High Court Chief Justice Aalia Neelum reserved on Thursday a decision on the maintainability of a plea seeking directions to the quarters concerned for making public the government’s “constitutional package” to obtain public opinion.

Khawar Mumtaz and Neelam Hussain filed the petition through Barrister Rida Hosain. They requested the court to halt the government from tabling it in Parliament before public consultation and to submit a report containing public feedback.

It is worth mentioning that the Registrar’s Office raised an objection, observing that the case at hand does not fall within the LHC’s jurisdiction.

At the outset of the proceeding, Additional Attorney General Mirza Nasar Ahmed requested the court to dismiss the petition as “non-maintainable.”

He argued that “no such draft exists yet” and added that the government was consulting political parties regarding some amendments.

“Are the petitioners demanding the publication of that consultation?” he asked.

AAG Ahmed added that the said draft must first be approved by the cabinet before being placed in Parliament, which has not been done yet.

Counsel Hosain argued that the Supreme Court gave powers to courts to decide issues of territorial jurisdiction, so the objection should be removed.

Petitioners contended in their petition, “In fact, parliamentarians who were gathered in the assemblies to vote on the 15th of September later admitted that they had not seen the draft they were meant to vote for.”

The government “is defending the package, but they are not willing” to publish it, they added. Petitioners also referred to the time of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, when a special committee’s report revealed that the people had been consulted on that matter.