Islamabad (April 24, 2018): The Supreme Court gave on Tuesday the Islamabad High Court (IHC) one week to decide on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decision to ban recruitment in government institutions during 2018 polls.
As the hearing went under way today, Chief Justice Nisar observed that as per Article 218 of the Constitution, it is the ECP’s responsibility to hold transparent elections.
The ECP secretary informed the apex court that they halted recruitments of government jobs to prevent pre-poll rigging and clarified that the federal and provincial public service commissions have been exempted from the order.
The court ordered that the Punjab government’s writ petition against the ECP order should be transferred to the IHC where a two-member bench will decide it in a week.
Justice Aamer Farooq will head the bench and conduct proceedings daily, it stated further, adding that until then, the ECP decision will remain in place.
The court also ruled that any province which wants to challenge the decision may file a writ in the IHC. 
On April 23, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to clarify the reason behind banning recruitment in government institutions.
Taking a suo motu notice of the matter on Monday, the chief justice questioned the ECP secretary, who was present in court, about the law under which they banned recruitments by public institutions.
The chief justice asked if the ECP’s decision will be implemented on important institutions as well, where appointments of heads were under way.
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