SHC seeks report on transfers, postings made after LG poll date announcement

The Sindh High Court on Friday directed the chief secretary and the local government secretary to file a comprehensive report with regard to transfers and postings of government officers after the announcement of the local bodies election schedule.

During a hearing of a petition against transfers and postings of government officers in various departments after the announcement of the schedule for the upcoming local bodies elections in Karachi and Hyderabad, a senior ECP law officer submitted that the Sindh government had made numerous transfers despite ECP directions.

He said the ECP has taken up the issue with the provincial government, while certain transfers have been reversed but numerous other transfers remain. He informed the court that the ECP was continuing to pursue the matter.

A division bench, headed by Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed, directed the ECP to file comments on the petition. The court also directed the chief secretary and the secretary of local governments to appear in person on January 4 and apprise the court about the status of transfers and postings of government officers.

The court observed that the interim relief order would be considered on the next date of the hearing in light of the comments. The ECP had restrained the Sindh government from issuing orders for transfers and postings of government officers after the announcement of the local government elections scheduled to be held on January 15, 2023.

Ghani for polls on time

In his capacity as the Karachi president of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Sindh Labour Minister Saeed Ghani has appealed to Syed Chief Minister Murad Ali Khan to hold thelocal government elections in the Karachi division on January 15, 2023, as per the announcement of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

In a statement issued on Friday, Ghani said deferral of the local government elections multiple times had caused serious disappointment among the PPP activists and citizens of Karachi.

He said the concerned citizens of Karachi would once again be seriously dejected if the local government elections were not held on January 15 as per the ECP’s announcement. He appealed to the CM that the Sindh government should not send anymore any sort of letter to the ECP to ask further postponement of the local government elections.

He stated that the PPP and Muttahida Qaumi Movement had developed a consensus on a number of issues in line with the accord signed between the two political parties to empower the local government system in the province, due to which there was no valid reason to delay the local government elections.

Ghani asserted that the PPP was ready to contest the local government elections in Karachi from day one but they could not be held due to heavy rains and floods and the resultant disastrous situation in the province.

He opined that the circumstances that had led to the deferral of the local government elections in Karachi more than once did not exist anymore, and so the polls should be held on January 15.