Unelected advisors can’t head government bodies, Pakistan court rules

The petitioners had requested the court to put a stop to vulgarity and immorality on television, particularly during Ramadan schedules and morning shows. (AFP)

• Judgment could have wide ranging implications for Pakistani cabinet which comprises several special advisers to the prime minister
• Many important ministries, including finance, commerce, national security and health, are currently run by special advisers rather than elected legislators

ISLAMABAD: In a judgment that could have wide ranging implications for the Pakistani cabinet which comprises several special advisers to the prime minister, the Islamabad High Court has ruled illegal the formation of the Cabinet Committee on Privatization on the grounds that its head, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, was an unelected official.
Prime Minister Imran Khan set up the Cabinet Committee on Privatization last year and made Shaikh its chairman, with two other special advisers – Abdul Razak Dawood and Dr. Ishrat Hussain – members of the body.
The formation of the committee was challenged in court by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) legilator Rana Iradat Sharif Khan, who argued that only elected representatives of the people had the right to govern the country and unelected officials could not be a part of cabinet or its committees. 
The IHC, in its short order on the petition, ruled that unelected advisers and special assistants could not head the government’s committees and subsequently set aside the notification of the CCoP.
The government has not indicated yet if it will appeal the court’s decision, which could have wide ranging implications for the administration of PM Khan, in which many important ministries, including finance, commerce, national security and health, are currently run by special advisers rather than elected members of parliament.
“Unlike ministers, advisers are not the part of the federal government, they do not take oath, they are not res­p­onsible to parliament in terms of Article 91(6) of the Constitution, they are not subject to the qualification and disqualification provided under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution,” Khan’s petition read. “Before and after their appo­i­ntment, advisers are not bound to submit their statements of assets and liabilities…and they are not subject to any kind of scrutiny.”
In August, in a separate case, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah had said unelected advisers and special assistants to the prime minister could not exercise executive or administrative powers in the functioning of the government and only elected representatives chosen by people had the privilege to run the affairs of ministries.
The chief justice said though it was the prime minister’s prerogative to select people to give him advice, executive functions performed by any unelected members of the prime minister’s team would be illegal, without lawful authority and hence void.
“Appointing an Adviser with the status of a Minister does not empower him/her to act or function as a Minister or to perform functions under the Rules of Business 1973,” the court had said.