Not holding LB polls to be considered violation of constitution: CJP

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Tuesday said not holding local bodies’ elections would be considered a violation of the constitution.

The Supreme Court directed the federal and provincial governments to submit their written statements regarding their stance on whether the violation of some provisions would be the violation of whole constitution or not.

The case regarding the holding of local bodies elections throughout the country was heard by a three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad S Khwaja and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed.

During the proceedings, the CJP posed a question to the law officers of all provinces as well as the ICT whether they were bound by the provisions of the constitution, particularly articles 5, 32, 38(A-B) and 140-A, which bound the government to follow the Green Book.

Additional Attorney General Shah Khawer confessed that non-implementation of Article 140-A would be the violation of constitution of Pakistan. But he categorically stated that “no one here can think of violating the constitution”.

The CJP said the judiciary was not the beneficiary of holding local bodies polls but only wanted the upholding of the law and the constitution.

He said it was an obligatory duty of all institutions, including the judiciary to protect the Green Book.

Justice Khwaja said the SC had already directed the federal and the provincial governments on April 5, 2012 to hold local bodies’ elections within 90 days which was not implemented yet.

He said one should know the consequences of not fulfilling the courts orders, adding that the court was not a party in the case but it only wanted the uplift of law and constitution.

Later, the SC issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to appear before the bench and adjourned further hearing until September 26.