The Supreme Court of Pakistan passed an important Order yesterday, 18 November, on a Civil Petition for Leave to Appeal (CPLA) filed by PTI Secretary General Jehangir Tareen. This Order represents an important precedent as the Supreme Court has reiterated the requirement for Election Tribunals to decide Election Petitions within the prescribed time frame of 4 months and to penalise returned candidates found guilty of causing delays by employing the power to suspend their membership which is available to the Election Tribunals under the Representation of the People Act 1976 (Act).

Mr. Tareen had challenged the election of the notified returned candidate (Mr. Siddique Baloch) from NA-154 (Lodrah-1) through an Election Petition (EP) before the Election Tribunal at Multan (ET) filed under Section 52 of the Act on, inter alia, grounds of the returned candidate possessing fake and fabricated educational qualifications (including secondary, intermediate and undergraduate degree) as well as widespread corrupt and illegal practices on election day.

This EP has been pending for almost 3 months with the opponent seeking various delaying tactics. Under Section 67(1A) of the Act, an Election Tribunal is required to decide an Election Petition within 4 months of its receipt from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). When the ET refused to allow requests for more delays, Mr. Baloch challenged this refusal of the ET to grant such a long adjournment, before the Lahore High Court (Multan Bench) through a Writ Petition when a learned Single Judge of the High Court stayed all further proceedings before the ET in relation to the EP of Mr. Tareen and issued notice to Mr. Tareen, but without fixing any further date of hearing before the High Court. This Order of the High Court effectively resulted in an open-ended or indefinite stay of proceedings before the ET at Multan.

Mr. Tareen challenged the LHC Order before the Supreme Court of Pakistan through a Civil Petition for Leave to Appeal (CPLA) which was heard yesterday by the a bench comprising of the Chief Justice of Pakistan and Mr. Justice Jawaad Khawaja, which granted leave to appeal against the Order challenged and further held that the provisions of Section 67(1A) are mandatory in nature as these entail penal consequences.

Most significantly, in its oral observations, the Chief Justice observed that this is an important order as several quarters had raised the issue of delays being faced in final disposal of Election Petitions pending before the ETs all over the country.

The SC suspended the Order of 4th October 2013 of the LHC (Multan Bench) and issued directions for the ET to proceed with the EP of Mr. Tareen in view of the mandatory provisions of, inter alia, Section 67(1A) of the Act. The SC also directed the Registrar to inform the ET of the order via telephone and directed that a copy of its detailed Order be forwarded to the Secretary ECP who shall disseminate it to all of the Election Tribunals over the country for their information.


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