Skip to main content

Plea against ECP members appointment admitted for hearing

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday admitted a petition for regular hearing filed against the appointment of two members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by President Dr Arif Alvi using his discretionary powers.

President Alvi appointed Khalid Mehmood Siddiqui from Sindh and Munir Ahmed Kakar from Balochistan on Aug 22 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) refused to administer the oath to both members-designate and wrote a letter to the law ministry, observing that the appointment of ECP members was not in accordance with relevant articles of the Constitution.

The CEC also cited the judgement of a five-member bench of the Supreme Court in 2013 which held that the president did not enjoy discretionary powers in the appointment of CEC and ECP members.

CEC refused to administer oath to both members-designate after president named them using his discretionary powers

The CEC made it clear that he would not administer the oath to members appointed ‘unconstitutionally’ by the president.

Subsequently, the ECP secretary did not receive the joining reports of Mr Siddiqui and Mr Kakar.

Barrister Jahangir Khan Jadoon challenged the appointments in the IHC, saying that the criteria for the appointment of CEC and members had been laid down in the Constitution and the notification issued for the appointment of members on Aug 22 was in violation of Articles 213 and 218 of the Constitution.

The petitioner pointed out that due to the “grave illegality, the chief election commissioner has refused to administer oath” to the newly appointed members.

He said there was no constitutional provision which allowed the president to appoint Mr Siddiqui and Mr Kakar by invoking his discretionary powers. The petitioner said that after the passage of the 18th Constitution Amendment, the president had lost his discretion powers to appoint ECP members.

The petition further contended that the entire process of appointment of ECP members had been marred by violation of the Constitution.

It said that the initial consultation between the prime minister and the leader of the opposition did not take place on the matter. Then a deputy secretary of the Foreign Office sent nominations to the leader of the opposition on behalf of the government, which were latter withdrawn.

According to the petition, the president, prime minister and secretary of parliamentary affairs could not complete the constitutional process due to mala fide and the five-member bench of the Supreme Court had specifically provided guidelines for appointments in the ECP.

The petition further said that the appointment of both members-designate had been made without following the due process and it was marred with nepotism and favoritism and requested the court to set aside these appointments.

The petition cited President Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan, the secretary of parliamentary affairs, CEC, Mr Siddiqui and Mr Kakar as respondents.

After initial hearing, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah admitted the petition for regular hearing and issued notices to the respondents and sought their reply in a fortnight.

The court also put attorney general on notice for the next date of hearing on Sept 12.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2019



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/2zuDQhG
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rouhani calls Imran, discusses resumption of trade

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran on Wednesday discussed full resumption of bilateral trade, which was halted last month because of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The two sides stressed the need to reactivate borders and border markets and strengthen trade ties by following health guidelines,” a statement issued by the Iranian presidency on the telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Dr Hassan Rouhani said. President Rouhani had called the prime minister for Ramazan greetings. Border trade between the two countries was suspended after a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), held on March 13, decided to close all borders because of the pandemic. Islamabad partially relaxed the restrictions on April 21, allowing the import of certain food items and provision of petrol and diesel to the border areas. Cargo traffic from Iran was allowed for three days every week. Cargo movement between the two countries takes place through five border crossings — Taftan...
Post a Comment
Read more

Today’s outlook: Sindh CM discusses reopening markets with PM Khan

Here are some of the stories we are expecting to follow today (Thursday): Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah will take Prime Minister Imran Khan into confidence over reopening shops and markets across the province. The reopened markets will have to follow SOPs. Sindh Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah will discuss SOPs with transporters for resuming public transport in the coming days. The meeting will be held at the Sindh Assembly building at 1:30pm. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has proposed a price cut of Rs20.68 per litre for petrol in its summary. Imam-e-Kaaba Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais has said Masjid Al Haram and Masjid Al Nabawi will be reopened for worshipers soon. He said the Kaaba is being sterilised using latest technologies. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar will head various meetings during his visit to Bahawalpur. As of Thursday, Pakistan has reported more than 15,500 confirmed coronavirus cases. ICYMI: An amendment to the National Accountability Or...
Post a Comment
Read more

If Pakistani elderly self-distance infections could drop 30%: study

If we do nothing, COVID-19 could infect 206 million Pakistanis and kill 691,000. This is the estimation of researchers from the Imperial College London COVID-19 Response Team who have published country-wise projections in a March 26 report ‘ The Global Impact of COVID-19 and Strategies for Mitigation and Suppression ’ Furthermore, using an infection fatality rate from China, this means 4.4 million Pakistanis would require hospitalisation and from among those, 917,000 individuals would require critical care. Pakistan has a population of 220 million people. The research is based on the infection fatality rate from China, country health care system capacities and that one person with coronavirus is likely to infect 3 others. (You can find the excel sheet with Pakistan numbers here: Imperial-College-COVID19-Global-unmitigated-mitigated-suppression-scenarios.xlsx ) Forty-seven researchers crunched the numbers and made these projections to give countries, including Pakistan, some idea of...
Post a Comment
Read more