The Lahore High Court on Monday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to present a list of Punjab candidates cleared by the Federal Board of revenue, the National Accountability Bureau and the State Bank of Pakistan.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah sought this list to determine whether the returning officers had acted on information provided by the FBR, the NAB and the SBP during scrutiny of nominations.
The judge issued this order as a standing counsel and ECP representatives told him that every candidate who had filed nomination papers had underwent the mandatory scrutiny.
The judge also appointed four amici curie (friend of court) on a question raised by the petitioner that no instruction had been issued by the ECP explaining whether Article 62(1)(d) to (g) of the Constitution was justiciable before a court of law or whether it was to be left to the good judgment of the people of Pakistan in general elections. The amici curies are Advocate Muhammad Shahzad Shaukat, Advocate Bilal Hassan Minto, Advocate Babar Sattar and Professor Osama Siddique of the Lahore University of Management Sciences.
The judge also issued a notice to the attorney general on this point.
He asked the standing counsel to apprise him, after seeking instructions from the ECP, regarding meaningful actions taken by it regarding implementation of its notification banning on recruitments as well as diversion of funds already allocated for various development projects.
The judge also sought a reply from the ECP regarding its stance on the appointment of SBP Deputy Governor Ashraf Wathra during a ban on recruitments. The judge said that in case the ECP was of the view that the deputy governor could not be appointed, it should bring on record the evidence to establish that this appointment was meant to be a political bribe and amounted to pre-poll rigging.
Justice Shah issued this order after the SBP counsel submitted that the Finance Ministry had the authority to appoint the deputy governor. He also referred to a letter issued by the ministry that showed that the final decision of the ECP was awaited in the matter. The judge adjourned the hearing till April 9 (today).
The court is hearing a petition seeking enforcement of Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution and challenging all appointments made by the governments in violation of a ban imposed by the Election Commission of Pakistan.
In this case, the judge has already restrained Wathra from working for being appointed after the ECP’s ban.
Munir Ahmad had filed the petition through Azhar Siddique and sought directions for the ECP to conduct the forthcoming elections in accordance with the law. He said if the record showed that decisions were rushed to meet the deadline of March 16, the same should be declared as void ab-initio.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 9th, 2013.