ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the government to submit timeframe for fresh population census in the country in two weeks.
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, heard a suo motu case against delay in holding of the population census.
During the hearing of the case, the counsel for the federal government assured the court that the government would hold census in March 2018.
However, the court rejected the assurance and directed the government to inform it about the exact date and timeframe of the census in black and white.
The CJP observed that census had not been held for the last 18 years, and asked whether the 2018 election would also be held as per the present delimitation.
It may be mentioned here that during one of the past hearings of the case, the SC had underscored the dire need for much-awaited census in the country and asked the federation to fulfil its constitutional duty, failing which the court observed that forthcoming general elections would be fraudulent.
The court had observed that it was a constitutional obligation to conduct census in the country, which is a foundation of democracy.
