LG law tweaks sail through assembly

Mayors to head development authorities

KARACHI:

Sindh Assembly on Thursday unanimously approved many important amendments to the Sindh Local Government Act (SLGA) without any debate.

Sindh Local Government Amendment Bill was presented in the House for approval by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla.

The approved amendments have empowered the mayors of Karachi and other cities of Sindh making them ex-officio chairman of the development authorities in their respective cities.

The session that started after an hour-and-a half-delay under Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani approved amendments to SLGA that would allow mayors to recommend CEOs of civic utilities like the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation. Moreover, schools and hospitals run by various municipal corporations will remain under the same management.

“Cities’ mayors and local councils’ heads will be chairmen of concerned divisional, district development authority,” according to the legislation passed in the provincial legislature. Karachi’s Mayor will be ex-officio chairman of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA), Lyari Development Authority (LDA) and Malir Development Authority (MDA).

Mayor Karachi will also be the ex-officio chairman of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, as per text of the legislation. Chief Executive of the Solid Waste Management Board will be appointed with consultation of the concerned mayor and one of the three officers proposed by him.

Chief Executive of the water board will also be one of the three officials suggested by the mayor. Meanwhile, Mayor Hyderabad will be the chairman of the Hyderabad Development Authority. The head of the concerned district council will be Sehwan Development Authority’s ex-officio chairman.

The employees of all development authorities will be subordinate to the council, according to the draft of the bill. It is to be mentioned here that the Sindh Cabinet on Wednesday approved the establishment of Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) for distribution of financial resources to all districts and local government agencies from the provincial revenues. Provincial government shall be empowered to dissolve the municipal corporation of any district headquarters by its notification.

Provincial Finance Commission will formulate recommendations for financial award within 180 days. Tax collection has also been included in the provincial financial award formula for the first time under the Act.

Thin attendance

When the question and answer session started, there was no member in the House to ask questions. Therefore, the speaker announced to end the session related to the environment department, while there were many written and supplementary questions on the agenda

Commenting on the absence of members, the Speaker Durrani asked the members to come to the Assembly when they are done with roaming around. The session resumed after the noon prayer break. Opposition’s Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) MPA Arif Mustafa Jatoi, while presenting a call-attention notice, said that another motorway has been announced in Punjab.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2023.