K-P govt challenges ECP’s recruitment ban

PHC issues notice to top poll body to explain notification

PESHAWAR: Irked by a ban on fresh recruitment, the provincial government has taken the top poll body to court. The court has subsequently asked the election body to explain the ban.

A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC), comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Muhammad Ayub Khan, heard a petition filed by Advisor to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister on Prisons Malik Qasim Khattak.

The constitutional petition — which Khattak filed through his lawyers Barrister Waqar Ali, Aamir Ali Advocate and Barrister Muhammad Shah — asked the court to set aside a notification issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on new recruitments in the government.



Khattak’s lawyers argued that the ban was illegal and unconstitutional since the ECP does not have any authority to interfere in the affairs of the government since a schedule for the general elections has not been issued.

The petition argued that the ECP does not have the jurisdiction or the mandate under the Constitution to issue such directions.

“It is settled legal position that every executive notification, passed by a public functionary, shall contain the cogent reasons which necessitated the issuance of such order/ notification,” lawyers for the petitioner claimed, adding that in the ECP notification, “no reasons have been set out to support such a drastic action.”

The ECP notification had reasoned that some government departments were in the process of inducting thousands of people in various positions which amounts to pre-poll rigging as a political bribe.



However, the petitioner argued that the ECP notification did not identify the departments who are involved in such recruitments nor does it explain as to who amongst the general public has shown this grave concern over the issue.

Khattaks’ lawyers told the court that under section 57 of the Elections Act 2017, the ECP does not have the jurisdiction to interfere in routine activities of the governments which have no concern with the elections.

The petitioner went on to add that the general elections are not even in sight yet as the poll body has not published an election schedule and the incumbent federal and provincial governments have yet to complete their Constitutional term.

Hence, they argued, issuing such notifications makes no sense and asked the court to declare it as illegal.

The lawyers also told the court that the ECP’s directions also violate the Article 4 of the Constitution, the fundamental rights of the petitioner.

The PHC subsequently issued notices to the ECP, directing it to explain the notification and submit a reply by the next hearing of the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2018.