Permanent head: Top court gives govt two weeks to appoint CEC

SC hints at summoning CMs of Sindh, Punjab over LG polls delay .

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave the federal government two weeks to appoint a permanent chief election commissioner (CEC), or else it will withdraw its judge, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, who is currently serving as acting CEC.

Justice (retd) Fakharuddin G Ebrahim, who was appointed as the 13th CEC, had resigned on July 30, 2013 – a day after the presidential polls for which opposition parties accused the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of failing to ensure impartiality.

Justice Jamali is the third consecutive interim chief of the ECP in less than one year. Earlier, the incumbent chief justice, Nasirul Mulk, and his predecessor Tassaduq Hussain Jillani had served as acting CEC.

Under Article 217 of the Constitution, the chief justice can appoint any judge of the SC as acting CEC. Justice Jawwad S Khawaja was offered the slot in July, this year – but he had excused himself.



On Tuesday, Attorney General for Pakistan Salman Aslam Butt assured a three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, that the appointment of a permanent CEC will be made in 30 to 35 days. The bench, however, insisted that the government fill the constitutional post within two weeks.

Soon after the retirement of former chief justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, the government and the opposition were considering his appointment as CEC but the appointment has been delayed due to the ongoing protest sit-ins in the capital.

LG polls

The bench also sought a schedule of the local government elections from the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) by next Monday, and made it clear that the court’s judgment on delimitation does not apply in K-P. K-P Advocate General Latif Yousufzai submitted before the bench that the provincial government was ready to hold the LG polls but wanted to introduce a biometric system and hold the elections in three phases. The bench, however, observed that this matter was now between the ECP and the K-P government.

Deadline for Punjab, Sindh govts

The bench also hinted that it might summon the chief ministers of Punjab and Sindh if their governments do not complete legislation to authorise the ECP to carry out the delimitation process for the LG polls within two days.

The court expressed annoyance over both provincial governments for their failure to complete the legislation process in five months. “You have done nothing since February,” the chief justice told the law officers of both provinces.

Sindh’s Advocate General Fateh Malik told the bench that the provincial governor has refused to approve an ordinance issued for this purpose. “Why did you not table a bill in the assembly, and opted for an ordinance instead?” asked the chief justice.

“It was clearly mentioned in the court’s judgment that the process of legislation should be completed within five months. You would have still been inactive if the SC had not issued a notice,” the chief justice observed. He further said that provincial governments successfully delayed the process for several months.

Meanwhile, Additional Advocate General Razaq A Mirza filed a reply in this matter, saying that the provincial government cannot legislate until the federation legislate on this matter. He further stated that the commission has stopped the Punjab government from legislation in this matter. The bench, however, rejected this stance and observed that the ECP cannot interfere in the legislation process.

The court also directed the Punjab government to complete the legislation process within two days. It directed the federal government to complete legislation by the end of this week as well. The hearing was adjourned until Monday.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2014.