ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday asked the federal government to share the minutes of the cabinet meeting and summary regarding the increase in the number of union councils (UCs) in the federal capital.
A two-member bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Saman Raffat Imtiaz conducted hearing of the intra-court appeals (ICAs) of the federal government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the single bench’s decision to hold local government (LG) elections in the federal capital on December 31.
During the hearing, the bench asked the federal government to provide a solid reason for increasing the number of UCs from 101 to 125 for the LG polls and satisfy the court in this regard on the next hearing to be held on January 19.
The court warned that it will order to conduct the elections in 101 UCs if the government fails to provide a satisfactory reason in this matter. The bench also clubbed the appeals related to the LG elections and sought cabinet minutes and summary with regard to the increase in the number of union councils.
Justice Aamer remarked that what would happen now as the elections were not held as per the orders of the single-member bench. There was also no election schedule before the bench, he noted.
The petitioners’ counsel said that it was not possible to conduct elections on December 31, in the short time span. The single-member bench issued this order without hearing them, he added.
The IHC chief justice remarked that the decision of the single-member bench was only regarding the elections in 101 UCs. The matter of the voters list would be seen by the ECP instead of this court, he said. Addressing the ECP officials, the court remarked that this situation would not prevail if the elections were taken place. The ECP DG said that his department was yet to announce a new schedule.
The court clubbed the petitions regarding the UCs and voters list with the main case for hearing together and said that now the federation had to satisfy the bench on how the number of UCs was increased from 50 to 125 in one year.
The chief justice remarked if the UCs number was increased to 125 then the reservations would become ineffective as the whole process on voters’ lists would be restarted. The bench said it was not issuing notice so far on the petitions of voters. He further remarked that the local government acts are yet to be approved. The legislation would be completed after the completion of all processes, he said.
He said that Islamabad was not only a city but it was also a symbol of the federation. He questioned that why a chief commissioner used to be given the extra charge of chairman CDA.
On the query of the bench, PTI’s lawyer said that they had withdrawn the contempt of court petition. DG Law informed the court that the ECP could conduct elections in seven to ten days in 101 union councils.
The court granted permission to the AAG to submit extra documents in the case and adjourned further hearing till January 19