Key vacant positions: SC asks govt to act or court will intervene

Seeks reply from govt, says countries are not run on ad hacism.

ISLAMABAD:

Irked by a delay in the appointment of a chief election commissioner (CEC) and head of the Federal Service Tribunal (FST), the Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a comprehensive report on the steps the government has taken so far to fill out these key posts.

A two-judge bench – headed by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar – observed that countries were not run on ad hac basis, warning that if the government did not fulfil its legal obligations then the court would intervene in this regard. The court observed that the CEC post had been vacant since August 2013.

However, as the top court was reviewing matters related to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the appointment of one of its judges as acting CEC would be inappropriate, the bench observed. “The primary duty of a judge is to hear a case not to do administrative work,” Justice Nisar said.

Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt told the court that the prime minister had started a consultation process with the leader of opposition for filling out the post. On this, the bench asked him to furnish within one week details on the process.



Deputy Attorney General Sajid Bhutti also appeared before the bench to apprise it of the appointment of FST chairman.  He said the government had tabled a bill in parliament regarding proposing necessary amendments in the FST act in view of the SC’s judgment.

Justice Nisar said the FST had been inactive due to the non appointments of its chairman and other members since May 2013 and litigants were approaching the high court in this regard. Referring to the vacant constitutional posts, he lamented that the Constitution was not being followed by the government in this regard.

On a query about the procedure regarding the appointment of FST chairman, Special Law Secretary Sardar Muhammad Raza said there was no law as the consultation with the chief justice of Pakistan was binding on such appointment after the court’s decision.

Meanwhile, in another matter related to the Lahore High Court’s December 31, 2013 judgment, ECP counsel Akram Sheikh contended that the commission had no legal authority to start the delimitation process in view of the high court’s judgment.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2014.