Article 63 (A): Federal govt to file presidential reference today

ISLAMABAD: Federal government has decided to file a presidential reference to seek clarity on interpretation of Article 63 (A) of the Constitution today after PTI MNAs were found hiding in the Sindh House to vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan during no-trust motion, ARY NEWS reported.

The decision was made today following a meeting of legal team headed by the prime minister where the latter was briefed on the presidential reference.

The parliamentary affairs ministry led by Babar Awan will move a summary to PM Imran Khan and after his approval a presidential reference would be filed in the Supreme Court.

Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan and Babar Awan have been given responsibility to file the reference.

Sharing details of it, Babar Awan said that the president will send a reference for clarity on article 63 (A) of the Constitution and it will seek answers to two questions.

The incumbent chief justice was the head of the apex court bench that previously decided on disqualification under the said article.

“Wherever period of disqualification is not mentioned in the constitution it is interpreted as lifetime,” he said and added, “the disgruntled PTI lawmakers have chance to return and if they decide against it, they will be disqualified for lifetime.”

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Talking to ARY News earlier in the day, Khalid Javed Khan said that he was working on the presidential reference for interpretation of Article 63-A of the constitution and it will be moved to the apex court by Monday (March 21).

“The debate on Article 63-A will ultimately come to an end after the Supreme Court’s opinion,” he said.