Grassroots governance: SC warns of reviving old local govt system

Tells provinces to inform final date of LG polls on Oct 2.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered provincial governments and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) to hold the Local Bodies (LB) polls soon after Muharram, warning that otherwise it would restore the old local government (LG) system.

The three-judge SC bench, hearing a petition regarding local bodies elections, directed all provincial legal officers and additional advocates general to deliberate on alternative options in consultation with the attorney general of Pakistan (AGP) as to how constitutional provisions could be exercised to hold LB polls in the country.

“People contest elections under the Constitution only to defy it after they come into power,” remarked Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

The bench also directed all the provincial advocates general to sit with the attorney general and set an exact timeframe for the polls in consultation with the provincial governments. The authorities concerned were also directed to inform the court about the final date of the LG elections in the next hearing which will be held on October 2.



The Punjab and Balochistan governments informed the court that they were ready to hold the polls by December 7. The chief justice expressed his displeasure at the suggestion and said every province was coming up with its own date.

“If you are not interested in implementing the Constitution then be ready to face the consequences. You are inviting difficulties by not implementing the Constitution,” he said.

Another member of the bench Justice Jawad S Khawaja asked the officials to give the names of the persons creating hurdles in holding LB elections, adding that the court would deal with them.

“The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government had committed that it would hold the LB elections within a hundred days, but 101 days have passed since their government was formed and still no preparations have been done for the polls so far,” he added.

The K-P advocate general submitted that union councils in the province would be merged with village councils, which would be a unit comprising about 8,000 people.

“The general work of LB polls is completed and is subject to approval of the provincial assembly in its next session,” he told the court.

The chief justice asked the advocate general why the ordinance had not been promulgated in this regard, adding that the provincial government should have made necessary arrangements.

“What a joke it is that federal minister for science and technology is chairing the meeting held to consider the amendment to hold elections in the cantonment boards,” Justice Chaudhry remarked.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2013.