Increase in number of UCs in ICT: IHC asks federal govt to share summary, minutes of cabinet meeting

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 Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Saman Raffat Imtiaz heard 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 (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 local body elections and sought cabinet minutes and summary with regard to the increase in the number of UCs.

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’ lawyer, Raja Inam Amin Minhas, 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 court asked how the complainants of the voters’ list were affected in this case as the ECP could still hear their grievances at this time.

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 DG ECP said that his department was yet to announce a new schedule.

Then, 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.

Justice Aamer noted new appeals had also been filed. He remarked that it was the ECP who had to give a new election schedule in 101 UCs. The reservations of the voters were intact if the decision of single member bench was maintained, he said.

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.

Petitioner’s lawyer Adil Aziz Qazi said the decision regarding the increase in the number of UCs was taken on his application but he was not served notice. He said that when there was a local government set up, the mayor was not allowed to work.

On the query of the bench, PTI’s lawyer Sardar Taimoor Aslam said that they had withdrawn the contempt of court petition. The 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. The court also instructed the AAG to satisfy the bench regarding the increase in the number of the UCs.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023