KARACHI: Punjab Chief Minister-elect Hamza Shehbaz on Friday filed a constitutional petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC) for the third time, in which he prayed to the court to appoint a person for administering the oath to him and declare the steps taken by Punjab Governor Umar Sarfaraz Cheema and President Arif Alvi to prevent him from taking oath of his office unconstitutional.

In his petition, in which he made both the federal and Punjab governments respondents, Hamza said that despite the fact that the LHC had ordered the Punjab governor to take oath from him or appoint somebody else for the purpose, the latter was still to comply with its order.

Therefore, the CM-elect added in the petition, it was prayed to the court to not only appoint a person for taking oath from him but also fix time and place for the oath-taking ceremony.

Only two days ago, (Wednesday, April 27, 2022), LHC Chief Justice (CJ) Muhammad Amir Bhatti had ordered Punjab Governor Omer Sarfraz Cheema to administer the oath to Chief Minister-elect Hamza Sharif on Thursday or appoint another person who could administer the oath to him.

The LHC CJ gave the ruling while hearing a petition filed by Hamza Shehbaz for the appointment of a person for the oath-taking. In his ruling, CJ Bhatti had directed that if the governor did not want to perform the swearing-in then another person should be appointed for this task.

The judge asked the president to perform his role and order the completion of the constitutional requirement of swearing-in of the Chief Minister-elect. The judge ordered to take steps to administer the oath to CM-elect Hamza Shehbaz by tomorrow.