By Asif Mehmood
If the Caretaker government acts in complete disregard of the law then what else can be more painful and disgusting.
The Elections Act 2017 is of paramount importance in General election. This is the fundamental document that regulates the process of General Elections. Issues relating to the Elections have been discussed at length in this document.
The Elections Act for the first time in the history of Pakistan makes it compulsory for the caretaker Prime Minister, Chief Ministers and the entire cabinet to submit a statement of their assets to the Election Commission.
Article 230 (3) and (4) provide as under:
“(3) The Prime Minister, Chief Minister or a Minister or any other members of a Caretaker Governments shall, within three days from the date of assumption of office, submit to the Commission a Wealth Statement including assets and liabilities of his spouse and dependent children as on the preceding 30th day of June on the form prescribed under the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 (XLIX of 2001) and the Commission shall publish the Wealth Statement in the official Gazette.
(4) In this section, caretaker Government means ‘the caretaker Federal Government or a caretaker Provincial Government”.
Now here are the facts.
Caretaker Prime Minister Mr Nasir ul Mulk has assumed his office on June 1 , 2018. Under Article 230 he was supposed to submit all the requirements to the Election Commission on or before June 4, 2018. But he failed to do so. First time in the history this law was introduced and the Care Taker Prime Minister did not care about the law.
So now the question is: Where is the Election Commission? Is there anyone left who can ask the Prime Minister about this illegal omission? If the Caretaker government itself acts against the law how it can ask other to follow it?