Notices served on ECP ex-members on plea against their appointments

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and its four members, who have recently completed their terms, on a petition against their appointments as members of the ECP.

The Aam Log Ittehad, a new political party headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed, had filed the petition, seeking declaration of writ of quo warranto against the four ECP members.

It was submitted in the petition that the appointments of four ECP members, Justice (retd) Shakeel Ahmed Baloch, Justice (retd) Irshad Qaiser, Justice (retd) Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi and former bureaucrat Abdul Ghaffar, were made in violation of the Article 207 of the constitution that bars appointment of any retired judge of the SC or high courts for holding any office of profit in service of Pakistan, which includes the ECP, two years after the retirement.

The petitioner submitted that former judges of the Balochistan, Peshawar and Lahore high courts took oath as members of the ECP prior to the completion of their prohibitory term of two years; whereas the former bureaucrat was placed on the Exit Control List for his involvement in a Rs2 billion corruption scam.

It was submitted that the ECP members had been appointed in contravention of the law by the outgoing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government with the support of the Pakistan Peoples Party which was the largest opposition party in parliament.

When the court questioned about the maintainability of the petition as the respondents had completed their three-year term as members of the ECP, the petitioner submitted that the petition was maintainable as the respondents were bound to return the benefits they had received if their appointments were declared unlawful.

An SHC’s division bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, after preliminary hearing of the petition, issued notices to the ECP, a federal law officer and the former ECP members and sought their comments by February 20.