Says elected reps’ tenure can’t be shortened on basis of notification
TLTP
ISLAMABAD
Declaring the Section 3 of the Punjab Local Government Act, 2019 unconstitutional, the Supreme Court on Thursday restored local bodies in the province.
Hearing the case, Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed said that the local government representatives were elected for five years and their tenure cannot be shortened on the basis of a single notification. He added that laws can be made under Article 140 but the same cannot abolish the government institutions.
The Chief Justice maintained that the government holds a certain stature, be it federal, provincial or local, adding that the law can only alter conditions or improve infrastructure of the government institutions.
The CJP further sought an explanation from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Insaf (PTI)-led Punjab government concerning the law under which the local bodies were abolished. He also asked why the bodies have still not been restored.
During the hearing, Justice Ijaz-ul-Hassan stated that all forms of government (federal, provincial and local) can only be abolished for a limited period of time. He added that the people have been deprived of their representatives.
The SC judge asserted that the provincial government first announced holding re-elections in six months after the dissolution of local bodies. He added that a 21-month extension was then extended to the Council of Common Interests (CCI). The judge argued that the government is contradicting itself by wanting to take the power to the lower level and then abolishing the power itself.
Replying to the SC bench, the Punjab government’s counsel, Qasim Chauhan said that the re-election for the local government bodies have been delayed due to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak in the country.
Previously, the top court expressed serious concerns over the dissolution of the local government system in Punjab before the expiry of its term and summoned Punjab advocate general to answer queries in this regard.
The top court asked the advocate general to explain whether the majority of the members of a provincial assembly had the authority to dissolve the local government when the elected officials are opponents.
“The AG should also tell whether by not holding the local government elections within the prescribed one-year period mentioned in sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Punjab Local Government Act, 2019 (later extended to 21 months) the dissolved local governments stand resurrected,” the order stated.
