HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Sindh High Court comprising Justices Moham­mad Ali Mazhar and Shoukat Ali Memon on Tuesday stayed the All Sindh Primary Teachers Association election following an undertaking filed by the central election committee chairman (CEC), Mohib Khoso, through his counsel Tariq Shah, who sought time to come prepared for arguments.

The bench clubbed together nearly a dozen identical petitions and fixed April 28 for the hearing.

Advocates Ayaz Tunio, Mohammad Ali Rind and others had filed separate petitions last year citing the secretary and regional director of industries, rival candidates and central election committee chairman as respondents.

Some petitioners alleged irregularities in the election process and some others submitted in court that their appeals had not been decided by the respondent election committee chairman with mala fide intention or they were decided illegally.

They argued before court that respondent chairman central election committee was delaying the election so that all the petitions become infructuous.

Each petitioner challenged the holding of the election on various grounds ranging from questionable conduct of the CEC chairman to corruption, irregularities and violation of rules.

The bench was informed that the CEC had to be elected six months before the central election and the central working committee had the powers to elect the CEC whose names were supposed to be kept secret but the notification of CEC had already been issued. It was submitted that the whole electoral process was influenced and that’s why the petitioners approached the respondent industries secretary and regional director but to no avail.

The petitioners prayed to court to declare the voters list showing 348 members valid and order the formation of a new CEC under the supervision of the regional director.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play