ISLAMABAD: The appointment of former Chief Justice Supreme Court Saeed uz Zaman Siddiqui as Governor Sindh has been challenged in I
slamabad High Court on Monday. The petition was moved by a citizen Shahid Orakzai seeking to set aside the federal
government’s notification regarding the appointment of the Sindh Governor. The petitioner had s
tated that article 207 of the Constitution does not allow a judge to assume the office of the
governor under article 101.
He said that Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui was reportedly a 79-year old man and
the constitution does not accept any appointed person in the service of Pakistan in that age group. He further s
tated the current
governor is not qualified to be elected as a member of the National Assembly. This petition shall be dismissed if the federal
government can produce a nomination form of the Mr. Siddiqui for election to National Assembly or the Sindh Provincial Assembly.
The petitioner said the federal
government may ask whether the former chief justice was called back to the service of Pakistan as a retired judge or merely rewarded for party loyalty. He prayed
the court to restrain Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui from performing functions of Sindh Governor Office and declare his appointment as a violation of constitution. He appealed to
the court to instruct the federal
government to appoint a new
governor in accordance with article 103 of constitution.
The petitioner also requested
the court to also hear an identical petition challenging the appointmnent of Governor Balochistan along with the above suit. This petition was already pending with
the court, he added. However, the registrar office of IHC had raised some objections on petition regarding
the court jurisdiction. The single member bench of IHC would likely to hear the petition on December 1 along with the objections raised by registrar office regarding
the court jurisdiction.
It may be mentioned here that an identical petition w
as also moved in Lahore High Court (LHC) a few weeks back by Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffri against the appointment of new Sindh
governor and the federal
government was made a party in the plea. The petitioner has claimed that Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui is physically unfit for the post of
governor due to his poor health. The petitioner urged
the court to nullify his appointment as Sindh
governor.