IHC orders Parliament to break deadlock over ECP members' appointment

State institutions should not stop working, says IHC chief justice in reference to current deadlock

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday said the matter of appointment of two new Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) members should be decided by the Parliament.

 

A single-member bench presided over by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard a set of petitions against the federal government’s decision to appoint Sindh and Balochistan members of the ECP on grounds that President Arif Alvi made the appointments without adopting the procedure laid down in clauses 2A and 2B of Article 213 of the Constitution.

The IHC chief justice was unimpressed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government’s request to adjourn the case till Supreme Court’s verdict in the matter. “This is a public interest case. The ECP is almost non-functional,” noted Justice Minallah.

“Do you want the commission to become fully ineffective because the matter is also pending before the top court?” he asked. He also asked why the federal government was defending deadlock over the appointment of ECP members.

Justice Minallah further wondered if the Parliament was incapable of resolving the issue. “Who says that the matter cannot be resolved on the Parliament's floor? We have faith in the August House and believe it can undertake the task to decide on the matter.”

The high court directed National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani to end the deadlock and find a solution through consultations.

“State institutions should not stop working. The NA speaker and Senate chairman should prevent ECP from becoming nonfunctional.”

PTI govt asks IHC to put off hearing of ECP members case

The appointments saga

In August, the parliamentary affairs ministry had notified the appointment of Khalid Mehmood Siddiqui and Munir Ahmed Kakar as ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan respectively after President Arif Alvi’s approval.

The appointments came seven months after Abdul Ghaffar Soomro and Justice (retd) Shakeel Baloch — the ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan — retired in January this year.

However, Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Raza Khan had refused to take oath from the two new members nominated by the government.

The commissioner in his letter to the parliamentary affairs ministry had written that the new members were not appointed in accordance with Articles 213 and 214 of the constitution.

The government had defended its decision of unilaterally nominating the two ECP members, saying President Dr Arif Alvi made the appointments in line with the constitution and on the recommendations of the institutions concerned.