LHC demands date for local election by July 19

LAHORE: The LHC asked the government to issue the proposed schedule of local bodies’ election by July 19.

Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed issued this order on a petition by the Local Councils’ Association of Pakistan (LCAP) challenging the appointment of administrators in Punjab after amendments to the Punjab Local Government Ordinance 2001.

Additional Advocate General (AAG) Ahmad Rauf informed the court that the election authority had not yet decided a final date for the elections.

During the last hearing, Justice Saeed had directed the federal and provincial governments to inform the court about the schedule of local elections, however, the law officer failed to reveal any final date.

The LCAP director Anwar Hussain had filed a petition through advocate Fawad Hussain Chaudhry. Chaudhry submitted that the incumbent government through a notification revived commissioners and created a third layer of bureaucracy undermining the authority of local governments.

Chaudhry argued that by adopting the same sequence, the government on the basis of its numerical strength in the assembly enacted Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Act 2010 in clear violation of Articles 140-A, 2-A, 7, 9, 17, and 32 of the Constitution.

Next, they not only dissolved local bodies but also appointed administrators in total negation of the limits prescribed by the Constitution.

He requested the court to declare the amended Act and the appointments of administrators under the Act as unconstitutional.

Published in The Express Tribune, July  9^th, 2010.