Govt to suggest local poll dates by Aug end

LAHORE: An additional advocate general informed the High Court that recommendations about local bodies’ elections will be finalised by the last week of August.

However, he said that the issuance of a notification in this regard was the responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The law officer told the court that meetings were being held in this regard, on the federal as well as the provincial level. The minutes of these meetings were also submitted as evidence.

The court adjourned the hearing until August 22.

Local Councils Association of the Punjab (LCAP) through its president Mr Syed Muhammad Asghar Shah Gilani, had filed a petition through advocate, Fawad Hussain Chaudhry.

The petitioner has requested the court to declare unconstitutional the impugned amendments to the Punjab Local Government Act and the subsequent appointments of administrators.

Chaudhry submitted that the incumbent Punjab government had been trying since its establishment to subvert and sabotage the smooth functioning of district governments, directly or indirectly.

Soon after coming into power, the PML-N led provincial government resorted to malicious and foul means to harass the district governments, he said.

He also said that the government had created a third layer of bureaucracy by reviving commissioners at the division level, virtually undermining the authority of local governments.

Chaudhry argued that the Punjab government had enacted the Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Act, 2010 in clear violation of Articles 140-A, 2-A, 7, 9, 17, and 32 of the Constitution. The petitioner stated that after the passage of the above-mentioned act, the government had not only dissolved local bodies but also appointed administrators in February 2010 in total negation of the limits subscribed by the Constitution.

Dismissal:

The Lahore High Court, on Monday, dismissed a plea that sought restrictions on the administrators’ spending the district government funds until the next local election.

Dismissing the request, the judge observed that any restraint on using the funds will cause a financial crisis, since the employees of district governments also get their salaries through the funds.

The request had been made by the counsel for Local Councils’ Association Pakistan  during the hearing of its petition against appointment of administrators in the Punjab and seeking court’s directions for holding fresh local elections in the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2010.