Chief Justice Isa expresses his anger over Peshawar High Court orders to uninstall RO
Pakistan
Says tactics being used show some people don’t want elections
ISLAMABAD (News Desk) – The Supreme Court on Tuesday declared null and void a Peshawar High Court (PHC) order through which the appointment of PK-91 returning officer (RO) – a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly constituency – was suspended.
In his remarks, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa said the tactics being used show some people didn’t want to see elections should be held in the country, adding that he could not understand how and why such orders being passed.
He questioned why the appointment of an RO concerned the petitioner on whose request the provincial top court had cancelled the appointment made by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) which had moved the Supreme Court to get the orders null and void.
“Is he someone’s relative?” the chief justice asked and observed why a massive fine shouldn’t be imposed for filing such petitions. “Do you want that elections shouldn’t be held.
Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, another member of the bench, noted that the PHC orders would result in stopping the scrutiny of 19 nomination papers submitted for PK-91 in Kohat – a district located just south of Peshawar, from where southern region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa begins.
The chief justice, on the other hand, also noted that the RO was appointed after the person, who was assigned the task earlier, fell ill. The PHC didn’t even bother to issue a notice to the ECP and cancelled its decision, he noted.
Read more: Supreme Court suspends LHC order on ROs, directs ECP to issue election schedule today
It is one of the latest Supreme Court verdicts to stamp the authority of ECP – a constitutional body responsible to manage the affairs related to the elections across the country.
Previous, the Supreme Court had set aside a single-member bench Lahore High Court (LHC) orders designed to stop the appointment of administrative officers as returning and other election staff – a swift move followed by the ECP’s announcement of schedule for the February 8 polls.
Read more: Won't allow anyone to delay or derail elections: Supreme Court
Later, the apex court expressed its anger over a Balochistan High Court (BHC) decision to change the delimitation of two provincial assembly constituencies, saying the ECP was the sole authority to conduct the exercise.
