LAHORE High Court Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry on Monday overruled the Registrar s Office s objection to a constitutional petition moved by former President Rafiq Tarar, seeking the court order for removal of Pervez Musharraf s name from all the public and official record wherein he (Musharraf) was described as the President of Pakistan.
Earlier, the LHC additional registrar (judicial) put objections to the case that the matter fell under jurisdiction of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
Abid Hassan Minto, the counsel for Rafiq Tarar, appeared before the court and submitted that the LHC and the IHC had concurrent jurisdiction in the matter, therefore, the LHC could hear the matter.
The CJ, agreeing with the argument, overruled the objection and directed the court office to fix the case before an appropriate bench.
In his petition, former President Rafiq Tarar submitted that he be given pension benefits as a former president and Pervez Musharraf, who came after him, be declared an unlawful president. Tarar submitted that he had taken oath of his office on January 1, 1998, and at that time, the salary of President was Rs23,000 and pension Rs 10,000. He said that on October 1999, the elected government was toppled but he continued holding the office of the President. He submitted that in May 2001, a summary was moved by the cabinet division to the then Chief Executive Pervez Musharraf, purposing that the salary and pension of the President should be higher than all other state functionaries, including the Chief Justice of Pakistan. In pursuance of the summary, two bills were submitted to the petitioner with advice from the Chief Executive, however, he declined to sign the bills on certain apprehension, the petitioner maintained.
Tarar further submitted that after his expulsion from the office, another summary was moved through which the President was entitled to receive Rs 57,000 monthly salary and 85 percent of salary as pension and the summary was approved.
He submitted that unfortunately, the principle of keeping the salary and pension of the president higher than other state functionaries could not continue as salaries of the CJP and other judges had increased many times. He submitted that the anomaly was against the constitutional intents as the pension he drew was Rs48,450 whereas the pension of the retired chief justice during 1991-1994 was Rs476,325.
Citing the Supreme Court decision on a plea by the Sindh High Court Bar Association, Tarar contended that the petitioner continued as President till September 8, 2008, when Asif Ali Zardari assumed the office of president. He further contended that promulgation of emergency on October 14, 1999, had been declared to have no legal effect as per the 18th Amendment which amended Article 270AA.
So the Order 2 and 3 of 2001, for his expulsion, also had no legal effect, he added.
He prayed to the court to declare that the petitioner never resigned from the office and continued as president till the oath of Asif Ali Zardari as president. He also requested the court to declare that Pervez Musharraf was not entitled to receive any privileges as he was not an elected president. He also pleaded directions should be passed to remove all references made to Pervez Musharraf in public and official records showing him as President.
Rafiq Tarar prayed to the court to declare that he (Tarar) was entitled to receive salary from December 1, 2001, to September 8, 2009, at 132.5 percent of salary payable to the chief justice and arrears of the period should be given to welfare organisations. He prayed to the court to declare that the petitioner was entitled to receive pension from September 9, 2008, at 85 percent of the salary.
