KARACHI: Delimitation of certain constituencies made by the provincial government in Tando Adam and Sanghar for the upcoming local government elections was cancelled on Thursday by the Sindh High Court that also ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan to revise them within seven days.

Headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, a two-judge bench gave the order on different petitions challenging the delimitation of certain constituencies across the province.

The delimitations were challenged mainly by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional.

The bench ordered the ECP to revise the delimitation of these constituencies without affecting the holding of elections on Jan 23.

According to the petitioners, the rural parts of different local government constituencies were included in urban constituencies, while urban parts were included in certain rural area.

Case against NAB law

A division bench headed by Justice Mohammed Ali Mazhar put off the hearing of a set of constitutional petitions challenging the authority and powers of the director general of the National Accountability Bureau.

The petitions were filed by different government officials, who were issued notices by the bureau asking them to join investigations against them.

On Thursday, the NAB filed comments stating that the DG of NAB Sindh was authorised on Oct 10, 2013 to take action against the government servants.

The comments said that the bureau was authorised to initiate inquiry against the officials and file references against them.

The bench directed the petitioners to file their reply on the comments of the NAB and put off the hearing to Jan 19.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2016