A two-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) will take up the matter of the delay in the local government polls on Monday.
Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood will tackle the issue during the hearing on Monday. They shall also take up the issue of the dissolution of local governments before the expiry of their term.
In its last hearing, the SC bench conveyed its concerns over the dissolution of the local government system in Punjab prior to the expiry of its term. The bench summoned the 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 those who are elected are their 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.
The provincial government has submitted its reply with its justification for the expiry of the local government before May 2019, wherein it claimed that the Punjab government dissolved the local government “to ensure a level playing field for all prospective candidates in the upcoming elections” as well as “to eliminate political influence of any kind”.
“[It said] the government may, subject to such conditions as may be specified, delegate any of its functions under this Act to an officer subordinate to it except the power to make rules, to suspend or remove a mayor or chairman or to dissolve the local governments. It is learnt that all provinces are reluctant to hold local government elections until official announcement of population census by Council of Common Interests (CII).
