Local government: Governor summons assembly session on Monday

Governor of Sindh Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan has summoned the provincial assembly session on Monday, Oct. 20

KARACHI:

Governor of Sindh Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan has summoned the provincial assembly session on Monday, October 20, at 10am.

The session has been summoned to comply with the Supreme Court's order to empower the Election Commission of Pakistan for the delimitation of the union councils.

"Even though the President of Pakistan issued the ordinance late Tuesday night to transfer these powers to the election commission, every province has to make this a law," said Sindh advocate-general Fatah Malik. He added that during the court hearing, he assured the chief justice that the provincial government will make the law as soon as possible.

According to officials, the apex court judges had warned to summon the chief minister for the delay in the ordinance. However, Malik submitted that it was the governor's refusal to sign the ordinance which delayed the matter.

Explaining the reason behind the governor's refusal to sign the ordinance, the sources said that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leaders had serious reservations over not taking them into confidence while drafting the ordinance. "Therefore, the governor refused to give his consent."

The Supreme Court had given all provinces a deadline of November 15 in its February 2014 decision to take care of all prerequisites for holding the local government election. In its judgement, the court had also asked provincial governments to empower the Election Commission of Pakistan by handing them over the delimitation powers so that the boundaries of union councils could be demarcated.

The court had also declared the provincial government's exercise of delimitation of the union councils as null and void after political parties such as the MQM and the Pakistan Muslim League - Functional challenged the 'politically motivated exercise'.

However, the provincial government wanted to retain the powers, terming the court orders as 'extrajudicial and against the law'.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2014.