LAHORE: LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Amir Bhatti Wednesday ordered Punjab Governor Omer Sarfraz Cheema to administer oath to Chief Minister-elect Hamza Sharif tomorrow (Thursday) or appoint another person who could administer oath to him.
The LHC CJ announced the verdict while hearing a petition filed by Punjab Chief Minister-elect Hamza Shehbaz for the appointment of a person to take oath from him. The chief justice had reserved the three-page verdict yesterday which he announced today.
In his ruling, CJ Bhatti directed Governor Cheema to administer the oath to CM-elect Hamza tomorrow and if the governor did not want to perform the swearing-in, then another person should be appointed for this task. The judge asked the President to perform his role and order the completion of the constitutional requirement of swearing-in of the Chief Minister-elect.
The judge ordered to take steps to administer the oath to CM-elect Hamza Shehbaz by tomorrow. He deplored that following the resignation of Usman Buzdar, the province had been running without a chief minister for the last 25 days. The court observed that the solution to remove the impediments in the oath-taking had also been discussed in the Constitution.
In its Friday ruling, the court had asked the President of Pakistan to appoint a representative for administering the oath to the Punjab chief minister-elect as Governor Cheema had expressed his inability to do so citing irregularities in his election. The day after the ruling, the Punjab capital was abuzz with the news that the president had appointed Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani for this purpose but later the buzz proved a rumour.
Today, CJ Bhatti directed to immediately send the court order to the Punjab governor. The additional attorney general and additional advocate general were also present in the courtroom. The court had banned the entry of any unconcerned person in the courtroom. A large number of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf women workers were present outside the courtroom.