KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has put off a petition of the
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) against ‘lack of tr
ansparency’ in the procedure of the ongoing census.
A two-judge bench adjourned the hearing until Ap
ril 26 due to the absence of the government law officer.
The PPP, through their leaders Farhatullah Babar and Maula Bux Chandio, had filed the petition seeking directives for the authorities concerned for carrying out census in a tr
ansparent manner.
During the previous hearing, the federal law officer informed the court that the federal government had suggested forming a committee to deal with the grievance aired by the Sindh chief minister in his letter to the Centre. “However, the pro
vincial government has not responded so far.”
He contended that the petition was not maintainable. The litigants should have approached the apex court under the law to have their grievance redressed, he added.
Farooq H Naik, the counsel for the petitioners, submitted that census was being carried out in a manner that lacked tr
ansparency. “To ensure tr
ansparency and make the public aware of data collected about them, they should have access to it so that t
hey could recheck and verify if the relevant census enumerator had correctly mentioned the information as provided by them.”