Reviewing elections: Judicial panel satisfied with election staff performance

Contradicting Fafen’s report, says most complaints received against judicial officers were ‘baseless’.

ISLAMABAD:

The National Judicial Policy Making Committee (NJPMC) has expressed satisfaction with the performance of returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs) during the election process.

In meeting chaired by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on Saturday, the committee reviewed the performance of ROs and DROs against the backdrop of applications received against them by the Election Commission of Pakistan. Following the review, NJPMC observed that most of the complaints received against ROs and DROs were ‘baseless and without substance’.

According to a press release issued by the Supreme Court, out of a total of 376 applications, 292 were found to be “baseless and frivolous”. NJPMC also expressed satisfaction that not a single application ‘worth consideration’ against ROs and DROs was received in Balochistan and the Islamabad Capital Territory.



Chief Justice Chaudhry said it was a matter of great satisfaction and pleasure that despite all odds, the democratic transfer of power had been completed peacefully. He added that though conducting elections in a free, fair and transparent manner was the ECP’s responsibility, keeping in view the sentiments of political parties, civil society and media to enhance the credibility of elections, the judiciary relaxed the National Judicial Policy and accepted the commission’s request to depute judicial officers as DROs and ROs in the supreme national interest.

The NJPMC’s observations contradict a recent report by the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) which made a poor assessment of the judicial officers performing the duties of ROs and DROS. Fafen’s findings suggested that most of complaints filed against ROs and DROs were related to anomalies in the electoral process. The transparency watchdog recommended that ECP should not avail the services of judicial officers in the future.

Over 800 judicial officers performed duties as ROs and DROs during the general elections across the country.

Meanwhile, NJPMC also reviewed the performance of the district judiciary, particularly with reference to cases instituted before December 31, 2008. The committee observed that the results of the National Judicial Policy were magnificent and after its implementation the district judiciary decided 99% of the old cases.

NJPMC expressed satisfaction at the pace of the disposal of cases and observed that pendency of new cases is primarily on account of continued shortage of judges and circumstances beyond its control.  The committee also reviewed the status of the submission of challans and was satisfied that they were being submitted timely.

The committee also reviewed the implementation status of recommendations regarding the allocation of funds to strengthen the district judiciary in terms of human resource and infrastructure, and expressed displeasure at the lukewarm response of relevant governments on its recommendations.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2013.