ISLAMABAD, Jan 12: The federal government here on Monday informed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that a summary for the implementation of local government system in the capital was pending with the cabinet for approval.

The information was passed on to IHC Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Aslam by Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Local Government, Mehar Mohammad Ali and the court put off the hearing till the next date.

On the last hearing the court had directed the federal government to implement the local government system in the federal capital within three weeks and had sought the comments of the interior ministry and the chief commissioner of Islamabad.

Pakistan Human Rights Society Chairman Advocate Kowkab Iqbal, in his writ petition to the IHC, had contended that if the LG system could not be implemented in the federal capital under the existing Local Government Ordinance 2002, then the authorities concerned should be directed to legislate a separate local government law for Islamabad.

Separately a division bench of the IHC comprising Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Aslam and Justice Raja Saeed Akram Khan directed the standing counsel to seek directions from the federal government whether or not it was perusing its petition for the cancellation of bail of former chief cleric of Lal Masjid Maulana Abdul Aziz.There are a total of 21 cases registered against Maulana Aziz in different police stations of Islamabad.

An anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi had granted bail to Maulana Aziz in 12 cases while in eight other cases he was granted bail by the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench. His lawyer has moved the Supreme Court for the bail in the last case enabling him to come out of jail.