Apex court summons AG over census delay

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court summoned on Thursday the Attorney-General over the federal government’s failure to hold census.

The court also directed the secretary of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) to submit documents justifying the delay in holding the census.

The three-judge bench of apex court, headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, was hearing a suo motu case.

The CJP had taken suo motu notice after the country failed to hold a census even after the lapse of eight years.

Terming census the foundation of the democratic process, the chief justice said that seats in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies were allocated on the basis of the census.

The chief justice remarked whether it “is law or in the interest of the rulers or who have vested interest in holding the census”.

The chief justice asked: “Is it necessary to conduct census under that (single) institution (armed forces) for it to be credible?”

Justice Jamali, however, said: “We don’t intend to give an impression that we are against engaging armed forces in exercise of census for its credibility.”



Blaming all previous governments equally for the delay, the chief justice told Additional Attorney-General Waqar Rana that the state was taking this pretext to avoid holding the census.

Justice Qazi Faez Isa, another member of the bench, observed that the Balochistan High Court had also delivered judgment (PLD 2012 Page 2) in this regard.

He said the army had not excused itself from providing the required number of personnel.

He asked the secretary of the Statistic Division whether they needed armed forces for holding census in Islamabad.

“There are 90 percent areas that do not require army supervision. If armed forces will not be available in March/April next year, then the census will (again) not be held?”

AAG Waqar Rana argued that in the General Statistics (Re-Organisation) Act of 2011, no time-frame was given for holding census, but that it should be held after a “reasonable time”. Without specifying reasons for the delay, he said the last census was held in 1998, while the next census, due to be held in 2008, could not be held so far.

Rana contended that the meeting of Council of Common Interest, held on February 26, had decided to hold census by the end of this year. He said as the requisite number of armed force personnel were not available this year, therefore, now the census would be held in March/April 2017.

Chief Statistician of the Division Asif Bajwa said that the census could not be held in piecemeal. The hearing of the case was later adjourned till August 31.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2016.