PESHAWAR: Claiming the Constitution has granted him immunity from legal action, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shah Farman on Saturday moved the Peshawar High Court against the issuance of a notice to him by the Election Commission of Pakistan for attending a public meeting allegedly in violation of the code of conduct for local body elections in the province.
In the petition filed through lawyer Ali Gohar Durrani, Mr Farman requested the court to declare that that he held the office of the governor and was a representative of the federation in the province and therefore, neither the Election Commission of Pakistan nor its district monitoring officer was empowered to seek his appearance before them through notices under the immunity guaranteed to him under Constitution as well as in light of the amendments made to the Elections Act 2017 through the Ordinance I of 2022.
He also said he was ‘well within his rights and constitutional guarantees as well as protocol and custom’ to accompany the prime minister during visits to the province.
The governor contended that under Article 105 of the Constitution, his office was ceremonial and was different from other public offices, as there was no authority vested in him to do anything on his own except to act on the advice of the provincial government or the chief minister.
He requested the court to declare that the notice served on him by the Lower Dir DMO on March 11 is in violation of the Constitution and the Election Act, 2017, so it is illegal.
Mr Farman sought the court orders to stop the respondents, including the ECP and Lower Dir DMO, from issuing more notices to him, claiming such a move will be ‘outside their domain’.
He also challenged the revised code of conduct issued by the ECP through an order on March 10, 2022, and requested the court to declare it a negation of the principles of the independence and a violation of the Constitution and Elections Act, 2017.
A day ago, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and provincial minister Anwar Zeb also moved the high court challenging the issuance of March 11 notices to them by the same DMO along with the revised ECP code of conduct for the second phase of local body elections in 18 districts of the province.
Following the Lower Dir public meeting, the local DMO had issued notices to several public officeholders, including Prime Minister Imran Khan, federal ministers Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pervez Khattak, Asad Umar and Murad Saeed and KP governor Shah Farman asking them to appear before him in person or send in counsel to explain position on the alleged poll code violation.
In the petition, the governor wondered whether his office is a public office like those of the chief minister, provincial minister and federal minister or it is just a ceremonial office and whether he, being a representative of the federation, not bound by protocol and custom to receive or accompany the prime minister during visits to the province.
He contended that despite the importance of the office of the governor, it did not carry with it the perks of having funds, hiring, firing, posting and transfers the way a chief minister of a province did and therefore, the Constitution provided for immunity to his (governor’s) office as actions were done in his name by the chief minister.
Mr Farman said on the same day of the public meeting in Lower Dir, the DMO had served a notice on him asking to appear before in person.
He said though he didn’t receive that notice, he submitted a reply to it through his counsel and was awaiting the orders of the DMO.
