A bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday suspended a presidential notification with regard to appointment of two members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
A single bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard a petition filed by Barrister Jahangir Khan Jadoon. During the hearing, Justice Minallah observed that the honour and prestige of the parliament is supreme, adding that the elected representatives should decide the matter themselves. “The National Assembly speaker and Senate chairman in a joint endeavor should resolve the issue regarding appointment of two members of the ECP between the treasury and opposition benches so that the provisions of the constitution are upheld in letter and spirit,” the court ruled.
The election commission counsel sought a period of four weeks to resolve the matter. Justice Minallah directed the parties to settle the matter before December 7. The court ruled that the presidential notification will remain suspended till the next hearing of the case on Dec 5.
Justice Minallah said the matter should be solved quickly as the chief election commissioner is about to retire.
Incumbent CEC Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza is retiring on December 7.
“Resolve this matter before December 7 and tell the court,” the judge told the additional attorney general.
AAG tells court no progress could be made on the issue due to Azadi March
The high court is hearing a petition filed by Barrister Jahangir Khan Jadoon against the controversial and unilateral appointments of ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan by President Dr Arif Alvi. According to the petitioner, the criteria for the appointment of chief election commissioner and members had been laid down in the constitution and the notification issued for the appointment of members on August 22 was in violation of Articles 213 and 218 of the constitution.
In an earlier hearing of the case, Justice Minallah had said that the matter must be solved by the parliament and that National Assembly speaker and Senate chairman should resolve the issue through consultations. During the hearing on Monday, he inquired about the progress of the consultation meetings. The additional attorney general informed him that so far three meetings have been held between Qaiser and Sanjrani but ‘no progress could be made due to deteriorating [law and order] situation’, a reference to ongoing anti-government ‘Azadi March’. “The matter which you are referring to should also be solved in the parliament,” remarked Justice Minallah.
President Dr Arif Alvi, on August 22, had appointed Khalid Mehmood Siddiqui from Sindh and Munir Ahmed Kakar from Balochistan against two the vacant posts previously held by Abdul Ghaffar Soomro and retired Justice Shakeel Baloch from the respective provinces. The chief election commissioner (CEC) had, however, refused to administer the oath to both members-designate and wrote a letter to the law ministry, saying that the appointment of ECP members was not in accordance with relevant articles of the constitution.
