ISLAMABAD: The Constitutional Bench of Supreme Court (SC) Thursday turned down a petition seeking disqualification of Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah.
A seven-member SC constitutional bench headed by Justice Amin-un-Din Khan dismissed the plea over non-pursuance by the petitioner.
Petitioner Roshan Ali, in his plea, urged the top court to disqualify Sindh CM Syed Murad Ali Shah over allegedly possessing dual nationality.
Petitioner Ali pleaded that Chief Minister Sindh, while concealing his UAE work permit and his dual nationality and lying in front of the electoral body during the 2013 general elections, is no more truthful and honest, thus he should be declared disqualified.
In September, two-member bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) had rejected a petition seeking the disqualification of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah.
The petition was filed by PTI leader Haleem Adil Sheikh.
The bench headed SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali Shaikh, announced the verdict on the admissibility of the petition. The court had reserved a verdict on the maintainability of the petition after a preliminary hearing on September 16.
The petitioner had stated that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had disqualified Murad Ali Shah in 2013 over submitting a false declaration about his dual nationality before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The petitioner maintained that the chief minister took part in a by-election and got elected despite the court order. Sheikh said that the CM was not eligible for holding membership in the provincial assembly.
He pleaded with the court to disqualify CM Murad from the membership of the provincial assembly for a lifetime under articles 62 and 63 of the constitution of Pakistan.
Earlier, the Supreme Court rejected a plea seeking disqualification of Murad Ali Shah as the petitioner had failed to approach the relevant forum during the trial of the case.
A three-member bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Muneeb Akhtar and Justice Yahya Afridi, heard the petition filed by Roshan Ali Buriro of the Sindh United Party demanding that Murad Ali Shah be disqualified on account of his dual nationality.
Justice Bandial also ruled that the prima facie grounds for disqualification were not clear in this case and not maintainable to hear the case.
He also observed that the Sindh chief minister had renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2013, therefore, he could not be disqualified on those grounds.
