' AHMED KHAN LASHARI, J.---Through this petition candidature of the respondent No,1 has been challenged, who was allowed to contest the Local Bodies Elections, 2001 for the office of Nazim from Union Council Ganj Mohallah, Zhob.
2. Briefly stated facts of the case are that respondent No,1 filed his nomination papers for the post of Nazim from Union Council, Ganj Mohallah, Zhob, in pursuance of requirements of section 14 of the Balochistan Local Government Ordinance VI of 2000, (hereinafter referred to as the Ordinance, 2000) the academic qualification of the candidate not less than Matriculation, or Secondary School Certificate or equivalent from recognized institution. Respondent No,1 attached a result card of Matric allegedly issued on behalf of respondent No,4, petitioner challenged the qualification of respondent No,1 before Returning Officer/Judicial Magistrate, Zhob (respondent No,2) but the said objection was overruled. The petitioner applied for the copy of acceptance order on 5-5-2001 which was allegedly supplied to him on 11-5-2001. It is evident from the record that on the nomination paper of respondent No,1 only word "accepted" was found written while petitioner applied for copy of the same, but a separate order was supplied to him, the petitioner filed an appeal before District Returning Officer, Zhob as provided under section 18(4) of the Ordinance, 2000 on 10-5-2001 along with application seeking condonation of delay which was not entertained.
Being aggrieved of the acceptance of nomination paper a Constitutional Petition No,201 of 2001 was filed before this Court and with consent of the parties following order was passed:- "By consent of learned counsel for the parties the impugned order is set aside and the matter is remanded to Judicial Magistrate/Returning Officer, Zhob to conduct an enquiry and to decide the objection afresh in the light of relevant record of Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education and to ascertain as to whether respondent No,1 (Abdul Sattar) is matriculate and qualified to be elected as Nazim as per provisions contained under section 14 of the Balochistan Local Government Election Ordinance, 2000 after providing of opportunity of hearing to the parties in accordance with the rules. The parties present are directed to appear before the Returning Officer on 29-5-2001 at 1-00 p.m. The learned counsel for petitioner undertakes to bear all the expenses of the representative of Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education. The petition accordingly stands disposed of."
' The Returning Officer respondent No,2 instead of deciding the matter started recording evidence as of a Civil Court and deliberately adjourned and kept the matter i,e, scrutiny of nomination paper after election process. Being prejudice of the proceedings petitioner filed this petition along with an application seeking stay of election on .4-6-2001. By order of this Court dated 4-6-2001, the Returning Officer was directed not to announce the result of the election in respect of Union Council Ganj Mohallah, Zhob and the proceedings for the purpose of scrutiny were suspended till decision of the petition.
3. Mr. Kamran Murtaza, Advocate contended on behalf of petitioner that Returning Officer with mala fide intention postponed the scrutiny process of respondent No,1 after election by facilitating him to participate in the election. The record of Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education was produced through Deputy Secretary, Examination before the Returning Officer but he instead of taking it into consideration, started recording evidence in order to delay the scrutiny process and kept the matter after election, intentionally causing serious prejudice to the petitioner. He next argued the respondent No,1 does not qualify to contest the election as per record of Board-of Intermediate and Secondary Education, respondent No,1 remained failed in Matriculation Examination.
4. Mr. H. Shakeel Ahmed, Advocate learned counsel for respondent No,1 argued that some of the evidence has been recorded by the Returning Officer, in the matter while respondent No,1 is yet to produce his witness before him, it would be more appropriate and in the ends of justice if the Returning Officer was allowed to proceed with the matter to reach a right conclusion. He next contended the controversy only could be resolved by a thorough probe and in exercise of Constitutional jurisdiction, this Court may not like to entertain the finding of facts, it would be just and proper in the circumstances proceedings be allowed to be completed by the Returning Officer and this may not prejudice either of the parties, and requested for remand of case to the Returning Officer, Zhob.
5. Mr. K.N. Kohli, learned Deputy Attorney-General argued that Returning Officer need not to go into recording evidence while dealing with nomination papers for the purpose of scrutiny like a Civil Court, he opposed the arguments of the learned counsel for respondent No,1 and objected the remand of the case to the Returning Officer for recording evidence of the parties in order to determine the dispute which is subject-matter of this petition. He further contended that this could be done by this Court in exercise of jurisdiction under Constitution. He relied on PLD 1980 Quetta 29.
6. Mr. Khadim Hussain, Advocate appeared on behalf of respondent No,4 along with record of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education i,e, Gazette Notification of 1977 and result statement of Secondary School Annual Supplementary, 1977.
7. We have heard the arguments of the parties and perused the result record with the assistance of Deputy Secretary Examination, Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Quetta, the respondent No,1 did appear as private candidate from Zhob under Roll No,4801 in the year 1977 but failed in English and he did not appear in Supplementary Examination, 1978. As per result statement of the Secondary School Certificate Annual, 1977 the respondent No,1 was found failed in compulsory subject of English and accordingly he was declared failed and Result Card was issued to him at his given address. The respondent No,1 did not rebut the same rather alleged that respondent No,4 had issued him Pass Result Card and is responsible for the wrong done. We have also examined the Result Card but found some tempering was made there in word "fail" was turned into word "pass". The said Result Card was used by the respondent No,1 at the time of filing of his nomination papers. The very fact was brought into the knowledge of Returning Officer but remained overlooked. The petitioner challenged the Result Card of respondent No,1 before this Court, with consent of the parties decision made on the Nomination Papers of respondent No,1 was set aside and matter was remanded to Returning Officer. The Returning Officer (respondent No,2) instead of rejecting or accepting the nomination papers in view of provisions as contained in section 18(2)(3) of . The Balochistan Local Government Elections Rules, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules, 2000) adjourned the scrutiny process after election mis exercise of jurisdiction and non-compliance of order passed by this Court. The Returning Officer without scrutiny of nomination papers allowed the respondent*No,1 to participate and contest the elections in violation of section 22 of the Rules, 2000 reads as under:-- "Postponement etc., under certain circumstances.--- Where the proceedings relating to nomination,scrutiny or withdrawal cannot, for reasons beyond the control of the Returning Officer, take place on the day appointed therefor, he may postpone or adjourn such proceedings and shall, inform the District Returning Officer of his having done so whereupon the District Returning Officer shall fix another day for the proceedings so postponed or adjourned and, if necessary, also the day or days for any subsequent proceedings, in accordance with the directions of the Chief Election Commissioner."
' The respondent No,1 did not possess the requisite qualification as prescribed by section 14(e) of the Ordinance, 2000 at the time of scrutiny of nomination paper and even failed to bring on record any documentary proof in support of his plea till final arguments heard on the petition. The section 14(e) of Ordinance, 2000 is reproduced herein below for ready reference:- "14. Qualification for candidates and elected members.--- A person shall qualify to be elected or to hold an elective office or membership of a Local Government, if he has academic qualifications of not less than matriculation or secondary school certificate or equivalent from recognized institution, for contesting an election of a Nazim or NaibNazim."
' What has been discussed hereinabove, we are of the considered opinion that mandatory provisions of section 14(e) of the Balochistan Local Government Election Ordinance, 2000 disenitle the respondent No,1 from the election of Nazim from Union Council, Gunj Mohallah, Zhob, for which he was illegally allowed to participate in the election. The nomination paper filed before Returning Officer would be deemed to be submitted without having the requisite qualification of Matriculation or Secondary School Certificate or equivalent from recognized institution.
' The dubious conduct and the manner, the matter which has been dealt with by the Judicial Magistrate and criticized need probe which may however, be dealt with separately by the District and Sessions Judge (Inspection) of this Court and necessary instructions/actions be taken to avoid recurrence of such lapse in future.
' With the above observations the petition accordingly stands disposed of.