ISLAMABAD: Justice Nasirul Mulk resigned on Wednesday as acting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), hours after his appointment as Chief Justice of Pakistan with effect from July 6.

Incumbent Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani is doffing his robes on July 5.

Informed sources told Dawn that Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali would take oath as acting CEC on Thursday.

PBC calls for permanent chief election commissioner

He will be the third acting CEC to have been appointed in less than a year. The only difference this time is that his two predecessors were senior most judges of the Supreme Court while he is not.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which comprises the CEC and one member each from the four provinces, has been waiting for a regular head since retired Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim resigned on July 30, 2013 in protest against interference in the exclusive domain of the ECP by then chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The resignation came soon after the apex court amended the schedule for presidential election announced by the commission.

Related: Justice Nasirul Mulk to take oath as new CJ of Pakistan

Justice Jamali will be the 31st acting CEC. So far 13 people have been appointed as regular CECs. Justice Ebrahim was the first CEC to have been appointed for five years under a new procedure involving the role of a parliamentary committee.

Previously, the term was for three years.

Our Staff Reporter adds: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has urged the government to immediately appoint a permanent CEC and warned that neutrality of the office will be compromised if the appointment is made on some “understanding”.

In a resolution adopted by the PBC executive committee at its June 28 meeting in Lahore, the council accused the government of deliberately delaying the appointment of a permanent CEC in order to accommodate a person of its choice.

The resolution said the office of the CEC was one of the most important and prestigious institutions of the country intended to promote its fundamental spirits and support the sacred and sacrosanct cause of democracy. Yet most of the times its role has been blemished by certain anomalies which are certainly liable to be rectified. Such irregularities have tarnished its image and also left a question mark on its impartiality.

The resolution said Chief Justice Jillani had been in news and it appeared that procrastination on behalf of the government in initiating the process of appointment of a permanent CEC was intentional with a view to accommodating the incumbent chief justice and his retirement was being awaited.

Also read: CJP’s stint — short but dignified

Although the chief justice has some experience pertaining to the working of the election commission which he gained while he was acting CEC before his appointment as chief justice, yet first and foremost consideration must be transparency and impartiality. Such considerations obviously will be lacking if the appointment of a permanent CEC is made as a result of some “understanding” which of course will frustrate the concept of neutralising of this high office.

Needless to add that any such arrangement will be against the spirit of oath taken by the chief justice and will give an ample opportunity to critics to point a figure at him and hurl certain allegations which could place a blot on his otherwise unblemished career.

The resolution said the ECP had a chequered history. The common people are mostly unaware of such developments and accept the results of such irregularities as a fait accompli. “The only option to prevent such exercise lies with the persons who are the beneficiaries of such transactions and can refuse to accept the offer put forward by the government before them in order to carve out a new history,” the resolution said.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2014