HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad circuit bench of the Sindh High Court on Thursday issued notices to Sindh chief secretary, secretary of local government, deputy commissioner of Mirpurkhas and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) over a petition, challenging the Mirpurkhas administration’s move to change delimitations in selected parts of the district.

The division bench comprising Justices Naimatullah Phulpoto and Shamsuddin Abbasi said the court would hear the matter after four weeks when it would take up another identical petition challenging delimitations in Hyderabad district. The two petitions had been filed by representatives of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).

The petitioners Zafar Ahmed Kamali, a former district nazim Mirpurkhas; Shafiq Ahmed Arain, Mohammad Kamran, and former taluka nazim Abdul Saleem Khan said that the secretary of local government had issued a notification on Dec 13, 2021 with mala fide intentions.

Under the notification, Mirpurkhas Municipal Committee had been upgraded to Municipal Corporation Mirpurkhas and Dehs 108, 109, 110, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, Khuth, Panhwarki, Phardo, Mubarak, 107-A, Kak, Manjri and Khandar that fell within limits of Mirpurkhas district council (rural areas) had been declared urban area and merged into the municipal corporation illegally and in sheer violation of sections 8 to 14 of Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, they said.

They said that Mirpurkhas DC issued a public notice that was published on Nov 30 in some local newspapers and not in widely circulated papers which bespoke his mala fide intentions.

The DC gave only three days to file objections on the public notice which negated norms of natural justice

and fair play because it was impossible to file objections within three days, they said.

They said that delimitation was considered to be a hectic exercise for which reasonable time was required. The ECP gave at least 15 days for filing objections but the administration wanted to wrap up the whole exercise in haste under the government’s pressure, they alleged.

They said the Dec 13 notification was issued in a slipshod manner without adopting due course of law and the procedure which included issuance of public notice in a proper manner or inviting legal objections thereon after providing reasonable time to people of the areas concerned.

They said that prior to the Dec 13 notification the ECP had issued a notification on Nov 19 to reconstitute delimitation committees for carrying out delimitation of UCs and wards in each district of Sindh.

They said the council’s term of office was four years which stood expired on Aug 30, 2020 and under sub-section 3 of section 21 of the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, the government was duty bound to send a request to the ECP calling for fresh election within 120 days but the government failed to comply with the rule due to mala fide intentions which was evident from the fact that the Nov 30 notification had been issued in the absence of elected representatives of the council.

They requested the court to declare the public notice issued by the Mirpurkhas DC as illegal and said the Dec 13, 2021 notification should also be declared illegal and in violation of Sindh Local Government Act, 2013.

They also called for suspending operation of the said notification and restraining the ECP from carrying out delimitation on the basis of this notification.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2022