Sindh government, ECP earn court’s ire

The Sindh High Court issued contempt of court notices to the provincial government and the Election Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday over their failure to hold local body elections in Sindh. The court also gave the census committee of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) till December 15 to submit their report on census results, warning that otherwise the court would decide on the matter itself.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Arshad Hussain Khan was hearing the pleas pertaining to election results and local government elections in Sindh.

It was submitted before the court by respondents that the PBS census committee, led by Federal Ports and Shipping Minister Ali Zaidi, had met six times but failed to reach any conclusion.

Advocate Irfan Aziz, the counsel for one of the petitioner’s, maintained before the court that there were serious reservations over the results of the national census and inordinate delay in the announcement of final results has cast doubts over holding local body elections in time.

Another petitioner maintained that local body elections were being delayed on the pretext of delimitations. The Sindh government is not able to account for the Rs78 billion it spends every year, he contended, adding that the results of the census have not been made public till now. The petitioner stated that the court had issued directives in February but they had not been implemented yet.

The Sindh Bureau of Statistics Planning and Development department informed the court that the government had formed a committee and the results would be available soon in light of the recommendations of the government’s committee.

The court directed the ECP to write a new letter to the Sindh government regarding local government elections, and with a final warning to the PBS committee to submit its report by the next hearing, the court adjourned proceedings till December 15.

According to Section 20 of the Sindh Local Government Act 2013, the four-year term of local bodies in the province expired in August 2020. The ECP was supposed to conduct elections within 120 days but the area was delimited on the basis of the 1998 census, which after the 2017 census is now obsolete.

Irrigation dept land case

Meanwhile, the provincial government moved Sindh High Court to transfer the petition pertaining to evacuation of land belonging to the Sindh irrigation department from the high court’s Sukkur bench to Karachi as the matter, among other things, is of public interest.

In the plea filed before the court, Sindh Advocate-General Salman Talibuddin maintained that the said petition may also be listed for hearing before a larger bench and the recommendations and decisions of the government on the matter may also be placed before the bench.

The AG contended that the interim orders passed by the Sukkur bench earlier against the petition were without any jurisdiction and in contradiction with prior orders on two similar petitions.

The provincial government’s plea also referred to an earlier order of the Supreme Court - dated February 2019 - pointed out that “[the] exercise of demolishing in settled areas is certainly involves careful consideration and examination in a holistic and planned manner” and submitted that this exercise was yet to be conducted by the apex court. However, the plea states, the honourable Sukkur bench has from time to time passed various directives asking respondents to demolish premises used for residential purposes without giving the affectees an opportunity to pursue a case.

The AG further submitted that the issue of occupation of lands belonging to the Sindh irrigation department was now to be considered by a cabinet committee, which is to be constituted at a forthcoming cabinet meeting. The committee will present its proposal in light of both residential and other constructions on the irrigation department’s land.

The AG prayed the court to transfer the said petition to the principal seat of the high court at Karachi as it was a matter of immense public interest, involving fundamental rights.

*With additional input from PPI

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2020.