ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has decided to indict the defence secretary for contempt of court on Nov 4 after he failed to honour his undertaking of holding local government elections in all 43 cantonment boards.

The last elections were held in 1998 and the cantonment boards have been without public representation for 14 years in violation of the constitution.

The apex court has also directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to follow the schedules given by the provincial administrations to hold local government polls in the provinces.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was hearing a contempt of court case on Friday against Secretary Defence retired Lt Gen Asif Yasin Malik pertaining to local government polls in cantonment boards.

A written apology was submitted to the court on behalf of the defence secretary who expressed utter remorse. However, the bench rejected the apology.

Iftikhar Gilani, counsel for Asif Yasin Malik, pleaded to the bench that according to the constitution holding elections was the prime minister’s job and not that of the defence secretary. He argued that the prime minister should be held accountable for not conducting local bodies' elections in the cantonment boards as he also holds the additional portfolio of defence.

Gilani said the defence secretary had written thrice to the prime minister to hold local government polls in the cantonment boards.

The counsel further argued that justification could be presented to the court for not holding the polls, to which the chief justice replied that the defence secretary’s reply was not acceptable.

“This is unacceptable; this is the court’s order, and it should not be taken lightly,” the chief justice said.

Trying his best to rescue the troubled secretary, Attorney General Munir A Malik said that although the court’s order was violated, the delay in holding elections was in part due to amendments in electoral laws.

The chief justice said that the defence secretary should then have thought twice before misleading the court by recording such an undertaking. He said that such a violation of the court’s directives could not be ignored.

The court will now indict Asif Yasin Malik at the next hearing on Nov 4. The attorney general will act as prosecutor in the contempt case.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to follow the schedules presented by the Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan provincial governments to hold local government polls.

On Wednesday, the ECP told the SC that it could schedule local government elections only after certain prerequisites were satisfied.

A reply filed on behalf of the ECP by senior counsel Akram Sheikh had listed features like completion of delimitation process, necessary changes in laws and election rules, door-to-door verification by the ECP, preparation of fresh electoral rolls by Nadra and provinces, procurement of election materials by the commission and printing of ballot papers by the Printing Corporation of Pakistan and the Security Printing Corporation.

The ECP was of the opinion that these measures would take at least four months to complete.

However, the court today told the ECP that no further concessions could be given to delay the polls.

Advocate General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa informed the court that the provincial assembly would pass relevant laws in the next two to three days after which it would be in a position to recommend a date to hold local government polls in KP.

The case was subsequently adjourned to Nov 4.