Parliament rebuffs top court's stay on impeachment amendment

Parliament on Sunday passed to rebuff the Supreme Court's interim order not to implement the amendment to the parliament rules of procedure that allows the removal of the President or Vice-President with less than the constitutionally mandated number of lawmakers in parliament.

Attorney General Ahmed Usham filed a constitutional case in the Supreme Court on 28 December seeking to quash an amendment to the parliament rules of procedure that allows the removal of the President or Vice-President on the basis of the number of lawmakers present at the given time in the parliament.

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued an interim order to stay the implementation of the amendments until a verdict is reached in the case.

However, opposition lawmakers during the session on Sunday expressed concern over the stay order, some going as far as to accuse the apex court of meddling with legislative power of the state. 

According to the constitution, two-thirds of the total votes of the parliament are required to remove the president or vice-president. The total strength of the current parliament is 87. But several ruling PPM/PNC lawmakers resigned to take up senior positions in the government shortly after the presidential elections, with no time between the next parliamentary elections to hold by-elections to fill the vacant seats. 

The main opposition MDP, which has a full majority in parliament orchestrated an amendment to the parliament rules of procedure to count the number of sitting members in parliament at the time.

Speaker Mohamed Aslam on Sunday put it up to lawmakers to decide whether to abide by the Supreme Court's stay order. 

As many as 45 MPs voted to ignore the top court order after ruling party lawmakers boycotted the vote.