ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday indicted Secretary Defence Asif Yasin Malik in a contempt of court notice against him for not fulfilling commitments for holding local government elections in all 43 cantonment boards.

Malik had committed before the apex court, during previous hearings that the LG elections in cantonment board areas would be held on or before September 15.

The court had served him contempt notice during the last proceedings for not fulfilling the commitment.

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, decided to charge frame against the defence secretary, which would be heard during the next week.

During the course of proceedings, Iftikhar Gilani, counsel for Malik, informed the bench that an intra-court appeal had been filed against the indictment.

However, the bench rejected the plea saying that no bench could be constituted as Gilani did not submit any application for the formation of a larger bench.

The court also maintained that a five-judge larger bench would be constituted to hear the intra-court appeal subject to the availability of judges and adjourned the case till November 12.

SC seeks final date for holding LG elections

Earlier, the Supreme Court rejected the government’s request for allowing more time to hold the local government polls and directed to submit its reply within seven days for giving a final date in this regard.

The apex court expressed dismay over the federation’s requests for the delay saying it reflected the government does not have any intention to hold the LG elections.

However, the federation dispelled the notion saying that the government was ready to hold the polls and it had never showed any non-seriousness in this regard.

Attorney General for Pakistan Munir A. Malik appeared before the court and requested for showing ‘some restraint’ in this regard.

However, the chief justice maintained that the court had already showed ‘great restraint’ and did not give any date by itself for holding the elections.

Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja remarked that the court did not want to put extra burden on the government by giving dates on its own.

The AG maintained that the government wanted to make some amendments in the laws regarding the local bodies.

The bench observed that the legislation and amendments could have been made in the last 15 years when elections were not being held.

Munir A. Malik said the government had done a lot during the last three months, including the demarcation of rural and urban areas in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), which had not been done in the past ten years.

He requested for some more time for delimitation in the ICT which was rejected by the apex court.

The bench in its order directed the federation to ensure holding of the LG elections in Cantonment Boards, ICT and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa like in other three provinces.

The court also directed to choose either Nov 27 or Dec 7 as the election date as given by Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab.

The court maintained that it was the sole responsibility of the government to empower general masses under Article 140-A.

The apex court also directed all the provincial advocate generals to submit their reports to the court within seven days.