ISLAMABAD: Tired of the government’s dilly-dallying, the Supreme Court on Thursday turned up the pressure on the provinces as well as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), asking them to assist the court in penalising the officials responsible for flouting the constitution and inordinately delaying the local government polls for several years.

“We would like to find out as to what orders the court can pass under the constitution by taking cognisance of the delinquent functionaries of the provinces who may have been responsible for... not conducting the elections,” says an order, dictated by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja while heading a two-judge Supreme Court bench. The bench had taken up the matter of the implementation of its March 20 judgment, which vested ECP with the authority of carrying out delimitation of constituencies and then holding local government elections in Sindh and Punjab as well as the 43 cantonments in the country.

Take a look: Delay in local government elections irks Supreme Court

“We cannot remain unmindful of difficulties being faced by the citizens because of the lack of devolution of financial and administrative powers to the local bodies system,” the court deplored and ordered the ECP to confirm by Friday what dates the commission was ready to hold the much-needed local government elections in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The court directions came when Punjab Chief Secretary Khizar Hayat Gondal, Additional Advocate General Punjab Razzaq A. Mirza and the Sindh local government secretary assured the court that both were prepared to hold the elections on the dates announced by the commission. Balochistan is the only province where local bodies are in place after polls were held in 2013.

The court told the provinces and the commission that it needed specific ans­wers on how they intended to proceed so that constitutional provisions were implemented effectively. Emphasi­sing the adverse consequences and far-reaching implications of the absence of local bodies in the provinces, the court cited different cases before it, such as matters involving disregard for social sector development by oil and gas exploration companies in the Sanghar district, as well as complaints of police excesses.

The court deplored that no effective mechanism was in place for the redressal of citizens’ complaints against police in the existing system because the public safety commission did not exist at the district and provincial level. Such commissions are staffed by nominees of elec­ted local representatives.

The court is concerned, the order said, that the constitutional imperatives of holding the local government polls have not been fulfilled for many years. It has also been noted, the court obser­ved, that no valid reasons appea­red from the record to justify the delay and it becomes particularly disturbing when Balochistan had already held and completed the local government elections.

Likewise, KP has also appeared to have fulfilled the constitutional requirement of Article 140A since the elections are likely to be held in the province in May or June, the order said.

The court said it was extremely disturbed to learn that though local government elections were provided for in the constitution in 2002 through the 17th amendment and subsequently Arti­cle 140A was incorporated through the 18th Amendment, Balochistan was the only province to have held such polls.

On Thursday, Razzaq A. Mirza told the court that all the information required by the commission for holding the elections had been furnished.

“We are surprised to know that schedule or working has not been undertaken by the commission to conduct the elections in the Punjab even though the data has been provided to them,” the court lamented.

Senior counsel Mohammad Akram Sheikh, appearing on behalf of the ECP, however, contested the claim, stating that the province had provided the relevant data for only 29 districts.

Prime facie, the court said, the ECP statement does not appear to be correct and in view of divergent submissions, the chief secretary submitted certificates to establish that the records were handed over to the provincial representatives of the commission.

Sindh Advocate General Fateh Malik also informed the court that the provincial assembly had passed the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act 2015 on Feb 24 but the court said that the same had not been accorded assent by the governor and therefore the act cannot be treated as law. Sindh also stated that it had provided the requisite information to the commission, but this was also denied by the ECP.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2015

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