Old law’s restoration to hit polls

The restoration of the Local Government Act of 2013 by Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman on the advice of Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi has caused uncertainty about local government elections in the province.

The decision has also affected posting of officers and development work at the local government level. The governor repealed the Local Government Act 2022, which had been approved by the Punjab Assembly and cabinet during the rule of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

As a result of the restoration of the earlier law, the notification of the district council system has been abolished and the municipal committees have been restored.

Now, instead of the deputy commissioner, the administrator of each municipal committee at the tehsil level will be the respective assistant commissioner. The administrator of the district headquarters municipal committee will be the additional deputy commissioner revenue.

The DCs will be the administrators only in five major cities of the province. The reason for replacing the law enacted last year with the earlier act has not been mentioned by the authorities.

The delimitation of constituencies of the local bodies had been altered twice in recent years by the Election Commission because of changes in the law governing them. After the fresh move, neighbourhood councils consisting of 25,000 inhabitants will be formed.

According to a political activist, the Election Commission had reportedly prepared a strategy to organise the local bodies elections at the end of April, but after the implementation of act of 2013 by the governor, they are set to be postponed once again.

On the other hand, the officers performing duties under the 2022 act will be shuffled.

Commenting on the move, former assistant advocate general Imran Pasha accused the governor of misusing his powers by restoring the earlier law on the advice of the caretaker government and the decision would be challenged in courts.

Legal experts Ahmadullah Bajwa and Mian Iftikhar Ahmad also said the caretaker chief minister was authorised to only take care of routine tasks but not legislation.

They said the caretaker CM had replaced the local government act without giving any reason, which was tantamount to overstepping his authority and it would in all likelihood be challenged in the courts.

In November, 2021 on the orders of the Supreme Court, the Punjab government has prepared the draft for the Local Bodies Act 2021 for holding local body elections.

The draft was sent to the law department which was to review it and then send the draft back to the provincial cabinet.

After the cabinet’s approval of the draft, the governor would issue an ordinance. On January 19, after the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly, Governor Balighur Rehman established a new local government system under fully empowered administrators.

Eleven metropolitan corporations and 40 district councils have been established. The divisional commissioners will be administrators of Metropolitan Corporation of 11 major cities of Punjab: Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Bahawalpur, Gujarat, DG Khan, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Multan, Sahiwal and Faisalabad. Administrators of district councils of 29 cities, including these 11 cities, will be deputy commissioners in 29 cities.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2023.