IHC issues notices in Islamabad LB polls case

ISLAMABAD: Justice Athar Minallah of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan, secretary, Ministry of Law and Justice, and secretary local bodies, Islamabad, after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Islamabad president, moved the court seeking local bodies elections in the federal capital.
Islamabad PTI President Amir Mughal, through his counsel Farrukh Dal, adopted before the court that the law for the local bodies election for Islamabad exists since 2002, but no consecutive government has ever held these elections.
The IHC bench directed the respondents to submit a reply within a fortnight. It may be mentioned here that an IHC bench, comprising Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi, on October 23, 2012, had directed the chief commissioner, Islamabad, and the chairman, CDA to hold the local bodies elections in the rural and urban areas of Islamabad within six months.
The IHC judge, on the writ petition of Kokab Iqbal, Advocate, President Human Rights Association of Pakistan, and Haji Salahud Din, President Small Traders Association of Islamabad, had directed the authorities concerned to hold the elections after completing code, formalities and legal procedures.
The recent writ petition that was heard on Thursday was filed in 2011, and the petitioner had moved an early hearing application in this regard.The petitioner contended that the local bodies election is a fundamental right of the citizens, and Article 140-A of the Constitution clearly directs the government to establish local bodies. As a matter of fact, the budget for Islamabad is being regulated by the Islamabad bureaucracy and the CDA, the petitioner said.