Pak legal experts says court can stay an executive order

Islamabad, May 3 : Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's legal representative in the judges' restoration issue, Mujeeb Pirzada, has said that a court can issue a stay order against an executive order.

"The court can stay any order if it is deemed illegal or unconstitutional," Pirzada told the Daily Times via telephone on Friday.

He said that the PPP government had set a precedent in the past, when some judges were sacked and reinstated later. He said that after the restoration of sacked judges to a pre-November 3 position, the new judges could be accommodated according to seniority.

He warned that the restoration of sacked judges through a parliamentary resolution followed by an executive order could complicate the issue if all stakeholders, including the president, the incumbent Supreme Court chief justice and the political parties were not taken on board.

He said that the authority to appoint judges rests with the president, adding that the prime minister could not issue such an order without the prior consent of the president.

However, senior lawyer Akram Sheikh said the sitting judiciary would have to face "stiff resistance" from people if it issued any stay order against the executive order of the prime minister.

He said that proceedings of parliament could not be challenged, but a law or bill could be challenged in a court of law. However, he said that an executive order could be challenged in court.

He said that since the new government had agreed to accommodate the present judiciary along with the sacked one, the incumbent judges should not take any step against the will of people. Regarding the legal aspects of accommodating the incumbent judges, Sheikh said they would keep functioning along with the restored judiciary.

Justice (retired) Fakhauddin G Ibrahim said there was no need for an executive order to reinstate the judges.

ANI