IHC affirms UCs role in development projects

Four-page verdict says no development work could be done without consent of union council chairmen

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has issued a four page written verdict in a case to empower elected representatives of local bodies of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) their due powers.

In its verdict the court said that the representatives should be taken in loop in all development projects in ICT.

The court directed the Chief Commissioner Islamabad in its decision that no development work could be done without consent of union council (UC) chairmen and directed him to ascertain implementations on court orders.

The court also ordered to hand over the water supply scheme adjoining Bara Kahu to the related UC chairman. This was directed by a single-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah, while hearing a petition filed by Union Council 34 Chairman Malik Sajjad.

Sajjad, a UC member in the federal capital from a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ticket, had earlier this year moved the court under Article 199 of the Constitution, stating that the deputy commissioner had issued a tender regarding construction of a water supply scheme in violation of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Local Government Act 2015.

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Sajjad had further complained that three years after the election of the local government in the federal capital — following orders of the Supreme Court — the federal government had failed to transfer the administrative and financial powers to the local government. Moreover, he contended that the government had failed to follow the guidelines determined by the Supreme Court in the Imrana Tiwana case of 2015.

The UC chairman had argued that since the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporaation (IMC) was the only elected representative government entitled to use financial, political and administrative powers of the district government, these have been withheld by the federal government and other departments.

He added that these departments have no authority to exercise the powers vested in the IMC and the UCs. Though, ironically, development funds of the local government have not been released which hampers the smooth functioning of the local governments, forcing certain projects of public importance to grind to a halt.

He urged the court to declare the tender notice as null and void and without lawful authority.

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He further urged the court to direct the interior secretary and the cabinet division to transfer the powers and functions of the local government to the IMC and the UC chairmen.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Sajjad’s counsel Adil Aziz Qazi maintained that the petitioner was a local government representative who had been elected by residents of UC-34 to help eradicate the basic problems of the area. However, the district administration was issuing tenders for development works.

Sajjad further challenged the ICT administration’s authority to oversee development works which the local government was authorised to do.

The court directed the ICT administration to include UC chairmen in all local development schemes. Moreover, the water supply scheme for the adjoining UC Bara Kahu should also be handed over to the relevant UC chairman.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2019.