Sadiq Sanjrani eligible to serve as acting President- Islamabad High Court
ISLAMABAD (Mon, April 15, 2019) – The Honourable Justice Aamir Farooq of Islamabad High Court (IHC) today announced the court’s 14th February’s reserved decision and declared that “the Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani is eligible to serve as acting President of Pakistan”.
A petition filed last year on June 21 by one Afzal Shinwari through Advocate Iftikhar Bashir in June 2018, contesting that appointing Sadiq Sanjrani as acting President would be in violation of Article 49 of the Constitution – that according to the Constitution, a person below the age of 45 years is not eligible to become the acting president of Pakistan. As Sanjrani claims to be 40 years old and did not meet the basic requirement to hold the office even in acting capacity.
Vehemently opposing the petition, the Deputy Attorney General Raja Khalid Mehmood had contended that the age limit was a condition applicable for candidates contesting the Presidential election not for acting President of the country.