PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday put on notice Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) over a writ petition filed by Provincial Minister for Prisons Malik Qasim Khan Khattak, challenging the commission’s recent notification placing ban on all sorts of recruitments and execution of new developmental schemes by the federal and provincial governments.

The bench comprising Justice Qaiser Rasheed and Justice Mohammad Ayub Khan fixed April 19 for next hearing of the petition.

Barrister Waqar Ali Khan and Barrister Mohammad Shah appeared for the petitioner and contended that ECP had overstepped its constitutional jurisdiction by placing ban on recruitments and developmental schemes when the election schedule had yet not been announced.

Petitioner’s lawyer argues commission overstepped its jurisdiction

The respondents in the petition are: Election Commission of Pakistan through its secretary; provincial election commissioner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; and, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through its chief secretary.

Senior advocate Shumail Ahmad Butt, who was present in the courtroom, accepted the notice on behalf of ECP, stating that he had already been representing the commission in some other cases.

Barrister Waqar stated that ECP had issued the impugned notification on April 11, whereby certain directions were given.

He said that the notification provided that all kinds of recruitments in any ministry, division, department or institution of federal government or any department or institution of any provincial and local government was banned forthwith, except recruitments by the Federal or Provincial Public Service Commission and those where test/interviews had already been conducted by April 1.

He stated that the notification further provided that all development schemes, which had been approved with effect from April 1 like installation of gas pipelines, supply of electricity, roads’ carpeting, water supply schemes etc should not be executed by the federal, provincial and local government authorities.

Moreover, Mr Waqar said that it was provided that the federal government should not issue tenders of such schemes till conclusion of 2018 general elections.

He requested the court to set aside the impugned notification by declaring it as illegal and unconstitutional. He added that the impugned notification might be declared as unreasonable and without jurisdiction.

Barrister Waqar pointed out that it had been stated in para 2 of the impugned notification that it was a grave concern of general public that some government departments were in the process of inducting thousands of people on various positions which amounted to pre-poll rigging as political bribe.

He said that the impugned notification neither identified the ‘government departments’ that intended to make recruitments as political bribery nor did it explain as to who amongst the general public had shown his grave concern over the issue and when, if at all, for the sake of argument it was admitted that ECP did have the jurisdiction to issue the impugned notification, then it should have been very clear in terms.

Barrister Waqar argued that before issuance of the notification of the election programme under section 57 of the Elections Act 2017, the ECP did not have the jurisdiction to interfere into the routine activities of the governments, which had no concern with the elections.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2018