The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday imposed fine of Rs 10,000 on the Sindh over chief secretary for his failure to respond to the petition of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) against amendments to the new local government law.
Headed by Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar, a division bench the directed chief secretary Sindh to deposit fine of Rs 10,000 to the SHC Bar library’s fund and also file comments within a week.
JI’s Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman and Mian Muslim Pervaiz approached the court stating that the constitution gives every citizen right to contest local government elections but the provincial government has deprived the citizens of this right by imposing condition of forming panels to contest elections.
The counsel for petitioners said the panel system violated the basic rights of citizens while the election of the chairpersons and vice chairpersons through councillors was undemocratic. He said the government was avoiding introducing the biometric system for verification of the voters and it was tantamount to pre-poll rigging.
The counsel said 65 per cent population of the country comprised youth and acknowledging this fact the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province was giving due representation to them in the local government system. Youth should be given representation in every union council and a seat should be allocated for the youth like it is for women, labourers and minorities, he said.
The court was prayed to declare the amendments to the Local Government Act null and void besides terming it against the constitution. He also prayed to make the use of the biometric system and magnetic ink necessary for the local government polls.
The court also sought comments from federal and provincial authorities on a petition of Jamiat Ulema Pakistan (JUP) leader Dr Mohammad Siddique Rathore against the Sindh Local Government Act 2013. Through the petition, he sought court directives to the federal and provincial government to hold census before the local government elections.