PESHAWAR – A senior lawyer has challenged the appointment of Justice retired Dost Muhammad Khan as caretaker chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the Peshawar High Court (PHC), arguing that his appointment was made in violation of the constitution.
Syed Aziz Uddin, a senior lawyer of PHC in his petition contended that after taking the oath of the Chief Minister, he becomes the chief executive of the province and thus he must has to fulfill articles 62 and 63 of the constitution which provide that any person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen if he has been in the service of Pakistan or any statuary body unless a period of two years has elapsed since he ceased to be in such service.
The petitioner further contended that the current KP caretaker CM does not fulfill the constitutional requirement as he has been retired on March 20, 2018.
The petitioner claimed that his appointment is also against the 2009 National Judicial Policy according to which a judge of the Supreme Court shall not accept any post lower to his post or dignity.
“The post of the caretaker CM is lower than the post from which from which he is retired on March, 2018,” he added.
He contended that the judicial policy provided that by the virtue of independence of judiciary no judge can even accept the position of the acting governor of the province.
The petitioner questioned that when Justice Dost Muhammad has very recently retired, how he can take such an oath when the law and the constitution forbid him from taking any political or administrative post for at least two years after retirement.
He prayed before the high court that the Caretaker CM doesn’t fulfill the criteria of the caretaker chief minister, thus his appointment should be declared illegal, unconstitutional and null and void.
Justice retired Dost Muhammad has been appointed as the K-P caretaker Chief Minister by the Election Commission of Pakistan on June 4 from the list of four names provided by the previous KP Government and leader of the opposition after the six-member parliamentary committee had failed to reach consensus on choosing the interim chief minister.
