Court restores powers to local representatives

The Peshawar High Court has nullified amendments made by the provincial government to the Local Government Ordinance that reduced the powers and funding of elected local representatives. The court accepted petitions challenging the changes and declared the provincial government's amendments unconstitutional.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Farah Jamshed presided over the case. The petitions were filed by Humayun Mayar, Zubair Ali, and others, and were argued by Advocate Babar Khan Yousafzai.

During the hearing, Yousafzai informed the court that local government elections were held in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in February 2022, after which the newly elected representatives took oath and began performing their duties. However, the provincial government soon initiated efforts to curtail their authority and, later that year, amended the Local Government Act.

Yousafzai argued that these amendments significantly rolled back the powers of elected local bodies and stripped them of their authority to allocate and utilize development funds. These powers were instead transferred to the district administration and other government departments. He pointed out that the majority of seats in the first phase of elections were won by opposition parties, prompting the government to tighten its control by changing the law.

The lawyer further contended that by shifting most powers from the Act to the Rules, the government bypassed legal safeguards. Specifically, amendments were made to Sections 23A and 25 of the Local Government Act, altering the composition of the Tehsil Local Government structure originally defined in the 2019 version of the law.

He emphasized that the 2022 amendments not only took away powers from local representatives such as Tehsil Mayors and Village Council members, but also deprived them of any developmental funds for the past three years.

This, he noted, had created a situation of uncertainty and pressure, as representatives face public expectations without any resources to meet them.

Yousafzai argued that if such amendments were deemed necessary, they should have been applied prospectively, during future elections, rather than retroactively undermining the authority of currently elected officials under the 2019 Act.

In response, the Additional Advocate General contended that the amendments were lawful and within the authority of the provincial government. He claimed the changes were presented before the provincial assembly and that the elected representatives had been granted their due rights.

After reviewing the arguments, the bench declared the provincial government's amendments invalid, restoring the original powers and funding mechanisms for local government representatives as per the 2019 Local Government Act.