27 committees formed mirroring KMC’s 27 departments

City council to select chairpersons for each committee in secret

KARACHI: The first resolution of the incumbent Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) city council taken up on September 28, 2016 for the formation of committees finally materialised on Monday. The city council’s session started considerably late, with only 194 out of 309 members present in the hall.

It is mandatory, according to the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, for every member of the council to join a committee. Twenty-seven committees have been formed to oversee 27 departments of the KMC, such as the parks committee, media management committee, veterinary committee, katchi abadi committee, legal committee, municipal utility charges committee, charged parking committee and estate committee among others.



The treasury benches have 19 departments under them, whereas the opposition has eight. The selection of chairperson for each committee will be made secretly. “The real work of the city council will kick off once these committees are made functional,” said Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar while chairing the session.

There were no elections for the 27 committees, as the number of nomination papers submitted did not exceed the required number of members of any committees, KMC’s Media Director Ali Hasan Sajid informed the session, adding that is why the committees were formed without any contest and in an amicable manner.



A resolution was also submitted in the council on Monday, requesting that the chairpersons of the committees be elected by April in order for the committees to be made functional. In response to this, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s council member and Karachi chapter president Firdous Shamim Naqvi said that the names of the directors of each KMC department should be given, for which an overseeing committee  is being formed. He also pointed out that the committee charter should be clearly defined in order to avoid overlapping.

This resolution was withheld and Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Aslam Afridi assured that this issue will be resolved with mutual understanding with the opposition. Another resolution regarding appointing Akhar as the chairperson of the coordination committee was also passed unanimously by the council.