The government has decided to constitute a separate administrative division for the capital city after the devolution of ministries to the provinces under the 18th Constitutional Amendment Act.
Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Senator Mian Raza Rabbani Tuesday told the Upper House of the parliament that a separate division would be constituted under the Cabinet Division to run the affairs of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).
“Parliament would legislate for ICT in this connection,” he said. Replying to a question in the Senate, he said, “To smoothly run the affairs of various ministries devolved after the abolishment of the concurrent list, a division would be constituted for ICT and all the matters would be run under it.”
Responding to another query, Rabbani said that five ministries including Local Government and Rural Development, Special Initiatives, Youth Affairs, Zakat and Ushr and Population have already been transferred to the provinces in the first phase of devolution.
He said in the second phase, ministries of Education, Culture, Tourism, Social Welfare and Special Education and Live Stock and Dairy Development would be devolved. The minister said some functions of ministries of Finance, Revenue division; Ports and Shipping, Interior, Law and Justice would also be devolved to the provinces.
He said few other ministries would be transferred to the provinces in the third phase which would be completed by May, adding that the whole process of the devolution would be completed by June 30.
Recently, Law Minister Babar Awan told The Express Tribune that he intended to divide the capital city into two districts. A ten member elected provincial assembly would legislate for the city. Awan was of the view that it was a constitutional requirement under the 18th amendment. He made this announcement publicly; however, the experts opposed the idea, saying that there were various complexities in this regard. They suggested a local government system or a citizen assembly for the capital city.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2011.
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