ISLAMABAD: The slow-moving election tribunals are set to get another extension after expiry of their extended term on Feb 28, with over 40 cases still pending with them.

The tribunals had started working from June 3, 2013 and initially had been set up for one year though they are required under the law to decide cases in 120 days.

After their failure to decide most of the cases totalling over 400 in one year, the tribunals were given extension till Dec 31, 2014. Then a second extension of two months was given to them which will be ending on the last day of February.

Also read: Election tribunals given another extension

An official of the Election Commission of Pakistan told Dawn that more than 40 cases were still pending with the tribunals after about 20 months and another extension was inevitable.

This time it will be a challenge for the ECP to decide the extended timeframe as it is already being criticised for giving extension after extension to the tribunals without asserting its own supervisory or regulatory role.

After a recent meeting of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan with Chief Election Commissioner, retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan, a letter had been written to the tribunals with the signatures of a top ECP official. But it just cited the law which requires the tribunals to decide cases within 120 days, and empowers them to suspend membership of a lawmaker for using delaying tactics.

The letter neither sought any reports from the tribunals nor warned them against violation of the law, which does not permit adjournment of the hearing of a case over three days.

The pace of the tribunals’ working has remained slow from the very beginning as four months after they were constituted, none of the 14 tribunals across the country had decided even a single case about alleged poll rigging.

The law requires the tribunals to decide the cases within 120 days, but it has never happened in the electoral history of the country.

This time there were hopes that the cases would be adjudicated upon within the stipulated period as the tribunals comprised retired judges, who were to hear the cases on day-to-day basis without worry about heavy routine judicial workload.

The retired judges have been withdrawing salaries equivalent to Basic Pay Scale-21 for 20 months, knowing that the law does not specifically provide for any punishment for the tribunals who act in contravention of the law.

Published in Dawn February 18th , 2015

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