District administration told to explain use of arbitration council’s powers

IHC issues notice to the chief, deputy commissioners

ISLAMABAD: The abuse of union council arbitration committee powers by officials of the district administration has landed in court with notices being issued to the chief commissioner and the deputy commissioner wherein they have been asked to provide a detailed explanation about the law under which such abuse was taking place.

This was directed by a single member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, as it heard a petition filed by Union Council (UC) 41 Chairman Sardar Mehtab Khan.

In his petition, filed through Adil Aziz Qazi, Mehtab argued that according to the Local Government Act (LGA) 2015, the functions of arbitration councils — matters relating to registration of divorce and issuance of divorce certificates — fall within the domain of the union councils of the locality who have the legitimate administrative authority to entertain such matter.

He further contended that under the law, the powers and functions of the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC), as well as union councils of the district and the administration of matters related to registration of marriage and divorce certificates, fall within the domain of local governments formed under the act.

Mehtab went on to argue that the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) chief commissioner, deputy commissioner, ICT local government assistant director were exercising administrative control over the arbitration councils which was “illegal and nullity in the eye of the law” as it violates the Local Government Act 2015 apart from the policies envisaged under Article 32 and 37(i) under the Constitution.

Further, he claimed that the district administration officials were interfering in the administrative and financial functions of the UC chairman and other local governments and exercising powers not vested in them. Moreover, the federal government had not transferred the administrative and financial powers to the local government as per the LGA 2015.

Mehtab urged the court to declare as “null and void” the actions of the district administration officials with regards to administrative control over the arbitration council in matters pertaining to marriages and divorce registration and issuance of certificates.

Additionally, the union council chairman said that the respondents — including the Federation of Pakistan through the interior ministry secretary — should be directed to act in accordance with the law and transfer powers and administrative control over the council to the local government.

After listening to the arguments, Justice Kiyani asked the chief commissioner and the deputy commissioner to provide detailed answers about the law under which the local government officers were using powers of the arbitration council.

The case was then adjourned until July 2.

SC orders late clerk’s heirs to pay his fine

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, on Thursday ordered the heirs of deceased Customs clerk Mohammad Zamurrad, to pay the fine which had been imposed on their father in a corruption case.

The bench, however, slashed the amount of the fine from Rs17.7 million to Rs4 million.

During Thursday’s hearing Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Khosa said that Zamurrad had been appointed as an upper division clerk and the salary of a clerk in 1976 was likely to be around Rs400-450.

Zammurad’s counsel pleaded the court to dismiss the fine as his client had passed away.

“No doubt the offender was the applicant’s late father, but the law commands the recovery of the amount even from the slaves of a person who commits the crime,” CJP Khosa remarked.

The CJP asked how could a customs clerk’s children study at the Lawrence College.   Questions would inevitably be raised if his wife purchased property, he added.

The counsel of the petitioner said that one of the late Zamurrad’s sons was sending money to his family from London. In response to this, the CJP observed that the money was transferred from Pakistan through Hawala and sent back from via a Telegraphic Transfer (TT), hence legalising the illegally gotten sum.

The CJP asked the counsel about the relationship between the late suspect and the petitioner to which the counsel replied that the petitioner was himself a lawyer and the son of the late clerk. The court ordered the family to pay the fine or face legal action.

Security measures

The Rawalpindi bench of Lahore High Court will visit the judicial complex and anti-terrorism courts (ATCs) to review security measures this week. According to details, the Punjab government had directed the police and other related departments to upgrade the courts’ security.

For this purpose, the City Police officer (CPO) Muhammad Faisal Rana paid a surprise visit to anti-terrorism courts (ATC) to examine the security conditions. He was accompanied by the SDPO Civil Lines Tahir Abbas and Chief Security Officer Inspector Abdul Aziz and took a detailed briefing on security arrangements.

WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS IN ISLAMABAD AND RAWALPINDI 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2019.