Boundary line: Local Govt Dept doesn’t recognise new tehsils

Official says no staff will be posted to redrawn tehsils until ordinance amended.

LAHORE:

The Local Government and Community Development Department has refused to recognise six new tehsils notified by the Board of Revenue over the last year, reasoning that the government had not adopted the proper procedure for redrawing tehsil boundaries.

The Board of Revenue notified the creation of these tehsils after approval from the chief minister. But setting up tehsil municipal administrations (TMAs) requires amendment to Section 11 of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance, which the government did not do, said a Local Government Department official.

TMAs are supposed to provide civic facilities including sewerage, water supply and street lights and take action against encroachments. The official said that administrators could not be posted to these new tehsils until Section 11 was amended.

These ‘tehsils’ are Bhowana in Jhang, Kot Radha Kishan in Kasur, Quaidabad in Khushab, Zafarwal in Narowal, and Lalian and Chenab Nagar in Chiniot. They would take the total number of tehsils in Punjab to 150.

According to Section 11 of the Ordinance, the government may, subject to previous publications, notify a change in the boundaries of union councils, tehsils or towns provided that such change shall come into force at the announcement of the next local governments elections.

The previous local governments expired in February 2010.

The Punjab government amended the ordinance in October 2010, adding Section 179-A so it could appoint administrators to perform the functions of nazims, naib nazims and union councils.

The amendment gave the Punjab government another year to decide the schedule for the next local polls. That extension lapsed last year. The Punjab Assembly recently passed a bill to extend the deadline by another six months, but the governor has refused to sign it. The government will likely table it again soon.

“The creation of new tehsils is not legally effective until the government either amends the PLGO or announces a schedule for local government elections,” said a senior official of the Local Government Department. He said staff would not be appointed to these tehsils till the amended the relevant section for the provision of municipal facilities.

Farrukh Altaf, former district nazim of Jhelum, said that this was another illustration of how the rule of law was not being upheld in the country.

He said the chief minister should announce a schedule for local government elections and devolve authority to local representatives. “The extension of the ad-hoc system by the Punjab government is a joke,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2012.