Failure to file comments costs officers Rs10,000 each
Court had repeatedly been allowing requests of the federal and provincial law officers but to no avail
KARACHI:
The Sindh High Court (SHC) imposed a fine of Rs10,000 on each of the officers who failed to submit comments in a case against delays in the population census, which stands in the way of local government elections in the province.
The bench, headed by SHC Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar, imposed the fine on the cabinet secretary, the provincial chief secretary and the census commissioner when none of them bothered to file their comments despite repeated directions. The secretaries and the commissioner have been asked to deposit the amount of the fine to the SHC Library Fund and file their comments by November 25.
Dr Muhammed Siddique Rathore, the vice-president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, had gone to court to seek a direction for the authorities to hold a population census in the province ahead of the local government elections. He had claimed that the population in Sindh has increased which means more people are eligible to exercise their right to vote.
Since December 2013, the court had repeatedly been allowing requests of the federal and provincial law officers to file their comments but to no avail. At the last hearing, the angry judges allowed time to the lawyers to file detailed and comprehensive comments on behalf of the officials with a warning that heavy costs would be imposed in case of failure. On Friday, the law officers appearing for the federal and provincial governments once again made a request for more time to file the replies. The two judges, who were visibly irritated, allowed them time till November 25, “subject to cost of Rs10,000 each”.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 8th, 2014.
The Sindh High Court (SHC) imposed a fine of Rs10,000 on each of the officers who failed to submit comments in a case against delays in the population census, which stands in the way of local government elections in the province.
The bench, headed by SHC Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar, imposed the fine on the cabinet secretary, the provincial chief secretary and the census commissioner when none of them bothered to file their comments despite repeated directions. The secretaries and the commissioner have been asked to deposit the amount of the fine to the SHC Library Fund and file their comments by November 25.
Dr Muhammed Siddique Rathore, the vice-president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, had gone to court to seek a direction for the authorities to hold a population census in the province ahead of the local government elections. He had claimed that the population in Sindh has increased which means more people are eligible to exercise their right to vote.
Since December 2013, the court had repeatedly been allowing requests of the federal and provincial law officers to file their comments but to no avail. At the last hearing, the angry judges allowed time to the lawyers to file detailed and comprehensive comments on behalf of the officials with a warning that heavy costs would be imposed in case of failure. On Friday, the law officers appearing for the federal and provincial governments once again made a request for more time to file the replies. The two judges, who were visibly irritated, allowed them time till November 25, “subject to cost of Rs10,000 each”.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 8th, 2014.