' MUHAMMAD JEHANGIR ARSHAD, J.---The petitioners who are candidates for the office of Nazim and Naib Nazim respectively in the current Local Bodies Elections from Union Council No.61/3 City Ahmadpur East, are aggrieved of the order, dated 24-7-2005 passed by the Returning Officer whereby their Nomination Papers were rejected on the ground of their being members of a banned organization (Spiah-eShahba, Pakistan), and also the order, dated 27-7-2005 passed by the District Returning Officer as Appellate Authority dismissing their appeal against the abovementioned order of the Returning Officer.
2. It has been contended by the learned counsel for the petitioners that after the said Organization having been proscribed by the Federal Government in section 11-B of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997, the petitioners had no affiliation with the said Organization and that since their names were never notified in the list prepared under section 11-EE of ATA, they could not be debarred from contesting the election and that the Notification, dated 18-7-2005 issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan directing the Returning Officers to reject the Nomination Papers of a person(s) who is/are members of a banned Organization, is without any lawful authority and that Nomination Papers could only be rejected if the petitioners incurred any of the disqualification laid down in section 152 of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 2001 and since the ground on which petitioners' Nomination Papers were rejected and appeal was dismissed, did not figure in any of the provisions contained in section 152 of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 2001, both the abovementioned orders of the Returning Officer and the District Returning Officer were without lawful authority as such were liable to be set aside.
3. On the other hand, learned counsel representing the contesting respondents submit that the abovementioned impugned orders were validly and lawfully passed. It is further contended that this writ petition was not maintainable as the Returning Officer who had rejected petitioner's Nomination Papers was not impleaded as party and that in terms of rule 1(h) of the Punjab Local Government Election Rules, 2005, the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan had the authority to issue such orders or directives as may be expedient or necessary for the conduct of smooth and fair elections under the Ordinance notwithstanding anything contrary to the rules, hence the abovementioned directive, dated 18-7-2005 was validly issued by the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan and following said directive the Returning Officer as well as the District Returning Officer acted lawfully and within their authority while rejecting Nomination Papers of the petitioners and dismissing their appeal.
4. I have considered the arguments of learned counsel for the parties and have also gone through the relevant law on the subject.
5. Prima facie the verdict of Returning Officer as well as of the District Returning Officer disqualifying the petitioners from contesting election on the basis of a statement recorded by a learned Additional Sessions Judge, Ahmadpur East while trying case F.I.R. No.159 of 2000 on 14-6-2005 (incorporated in the order of the learned Returning Officer, dated 24-7-2005) cannot be considered at all in the light of section 11-EE of ATA, as it has specifically been stated by petitioner No.1 Muhammad Aleem in the said statement as under:-- {{URDU TEXT}} ' These words could not be attributed to his present activities. Further there is no proof on the record that any Notification in terms of section 11-EE of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 was ever issued entering petitioners' name in the 4th Schedule as required by the said Section and in the absence of any such Notification mere association of a person in the past with any Organization proscribed under section 11-B of the said Act or any directive having been issued by the Federal Government under section 11-D of the said act, no person can be said to be involved in the activities prejudicial to the ideology, interest, security, unity, solidarity, peace and integrity of Pakistan and its people and good order and harmony of the society as prescribed by section 152(r) of the said Ordinance.
Agreed that the Chief Election Commissioner has got such powers as enumerated in rule (3) of the Punjab Local Government Elections Rules, 2005 but the said Rule being regulatory in nature confers no authority on the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan either to disqualify any candidate or to act in contradiction to the provisions contained in Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 2001, hence the contention of the learned counsel for the respondents that the abovementioned directive, dated 18-7-2005 was validly issued, is not sustainable. Since the impugned orders passed by the Returning Officer as well as the District Returning Officer are not in conformity with any of the provisions as contained in section 152 of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 2001 and the Rule made there-under debarring or disqualifying the activists and workers of proscribed Organizations and the Chief Election Commissioner possesses no authority to issue the abovementioned directive, hence the Returning Officer or for that matter the District Returning Officer had no authority to debar the petitioners by inserting a disqualification of their own and the impugned orders of the Returning Officer as well as the District Returning Officer are not covered by any of the clauses contained in section 152 of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 2001 therefore, the same are not warranted by law.
6. For what has been discussed above, this writ petition is allowed, the impugned orders of the Returning Officer as well as of the learned District Returning Officer are declared without lawful authority and the Returning Officer Union Council No.61/3 Ahmadpur East is directed to include the names of the petitioners in the list of validly nominated candidates for Nazim and Naib Nazim of the said Union Council and allot symbols to both the petitioners, without further loss of time.