SHC directs govt to submit report on publication of census

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed the federal law officer and Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) to submit a progress report on the announcement of final results of the 2017 census after the approval of Council of Common Interests (CCI).

The court was hearing the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) petition against the constitution of delimitation committees and delimitation for the local bodies’ elections in Sindh by the provincial election commission. To a court's query about the publication of final results of the census by the federal government, the federal law officer submitted that the CCI had to convene a meeting on March 24 but it could not be held due to the prime minister's illness. He submitted that now the CCI meeting was rescheduled for April 7 in which the issue will be discussed and its minutes will be submitted on the next date of hearing. He sought time to file the progress report. The SHC’s division bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, directed the federal law officer and PBS to file the progress report by April 14. The court had been informed earlier by the federal law officer that the federal cabinet meeting had approved the census results and they were forwarded to the CCI for final approval, following which the census results would be published. The court had earlier observed that the provincial election commissioner and the PBS officer had already given the statement that without the notification of final results of the census, local government elections in the province were not possible.

The MQM’s senior deputy convener, Amir Khan, then Karachi mayor Wasim Akhtar and others had objected in their petition that the provincial election commissioner had formed election committees for the delimitation of LB constituencies and carried out delimitation in violation of the election commission’s laws. They said that the election commission was required to carry out delimitation after the results of the census were officially published, which had not been done. They added that the delimitation amounted to violation of the election and delimitation laws and directions of the superior courts.

They also questioned the constitution of the committees in the absence of officials of PBS or census bureau. They said that the delimitation committees and their actions were of no legal effect as the law did not permit delimitation on the basis of provisional census results. They requested the court to declare the committees for delimitation of local bodies’ constituencies 'illegal' and restrain them from carrying out delimitation until the petition was decided.