Non-maintainable: IHC upholds appointment of ECP members

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court Thursday dismissed a petition questioning the legality of appointments of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) members.

While dismissing the petition, Justice Aamer Farooq declared that it was not maintainable. He further observed that it was a constitutional matter and that the proper forum to take it up was the Supreme Judicial Council.

Petitioners Muhammad Anwar and Riaz Hanif Rahi advocate had approached IHC  and named the Parliamentary Affairs and ECP secretaries, Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Sardar Muhammad Raza, ECP member from Punjab Justice (retd) Altaf  Ibrahim Qureshi, ECP member from Balochistan Justice (retd) Shakeel Ahmed, ECP member from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Justice (retd) Irshad Qaiser, ECP member from Sindh Abdul Ghaffar Soomro, and Faqir Muhammad as respondents in the case.

The petitioners argued that members of the ECP listed as respondents in the case, were overage and “incompetent” to hold office, adding that the ECP respondents are retired public servants who could not be reappointed, in view of an SC judgment.

“An election commission constituted by employing retired people cannot be termed as independent election commission,” he stated. Moreover, he maintained that the appointment of ECP members had created extra burden on the public exchequer.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2017.