ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to notify a revised schedule for the Local Bodies (LB) elections in the federal capital.
The elections were previously scheduled to be held in the Federal Capital Islamabad on 25 of this month.
However, due to the absence of a relevant law, the court has rejected the schedule and asked ECP to issue a revised schedule.
The National Assembly passed the Local Government Bill on March 26, 2015 and since then it is still pending with the Senate.
The three-member bench headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja comprising Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Maqbool Baqar heard the case regarding local government elections in Islamabad and issued order after listening arguments from all the sides.
During the proceedings, Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman requested the court to adjourn the proceedings of the case for the time being saying that a high level meeting about the matter in progress on the matter which was allowed by the bench.
The case was taken up after an allowed interval time in chamber, the Attorney General for Pakistan appeared himself and apprised the bench that the matter in the Senate has been passed by the Committee on June 30, 2015.
The Attorney General said that the proposed legislation was placed before the Senate on 6th July, 2015 and "the government expects that the Bill will be passed by the Senate during the current week."
The court remarked that the matter of concern was that the citizens of the Islamabad Capital Territory were still waiting for Local Government Elections.
Justice Jawwad remarked that the last such elections were held in the Islamabad Capital Territory in 1992 and already a period of 23 years has lapsed since then.
The urgency in the matter and the need to provide elected Local Governments at the grass-roots level, at the earliest, cannot be gainsaid, particularly in view of the fact that Local Government Elections have already been held in Balochistan, KPK and in the Cantonment Boards while such election in Sindh and Punjab are scheduled for mid-September, he added.
"To come up on August 3, 2015 when we may consider the possibility of Local Government Elections under previously existing legislation, so that the citizens of ICT are not discriminated against and receive their right to elect their local bodies," the court ordered.
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