LG system for capital: Draft bill replete with flaws

Bill to replicate Punjab LG system in letter and spirit.

ISLAMABAD:

Even though the issue dragged on for years, the draft of the proposed bill for establishing an elected local government in the federal capital seems to have been prepared in a crunch.

For the authors of the much-delayed Islamabad local government draft bill, the federal capital is part of Punjab. The bill approved recently by the interior ministry is full of factual mistakes, flaws and is mostly a reproduction of Punjab’s LG draft bill.

The draft bill — recently approved by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan — is to be sent to the cabinet soon.

The aim of the new local government system, according to the draft bill, is to devolve political, administrative and financial powers to elected representatives of for ensuring good governance and effective delivery of services.

But the bill states that the local governments established under this act shall function within the provincial framework and shall faithfully observe federal and provincial laws. Going through the bill, it becomes clear that 71 out of 104 pages have been copied from the Punjab local government draft bill. The fact that Islamabad is referred to as part of Punjab in the new draft seems to have escaped city managers.

The draft’s authors did not even replace the word “province” with district and “Punjab” with Islamabad. The draft defines, “district,” “revenue estate” and many other terms as notified under the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1967 instead of the capital’s laws.

The possibility of confining the local government system to rural areas has been worked into the new draft. Clause 2 of the bill states, “it extends to the whole of the Islamabad Capital Territory except any area excluded by the government by notification in the official gazette.” This implies that urban areas can be excluded by the interior ministry through a notification.

According to the bill, the local government means the metropolitan corporation, to be known as Islamabad Metropolitan, while the government refers to the interior ministry. This indicates that decisions related to the local government will be taken by the ministry.

The composition of the local government is flexible in the new draft, which states that a local government shall consist of a number of directly or indirectly elected members as determined by the government.

The bill states that members of the metropolitan corporation shall, in the first session elect from amongst themselves the mayor and the deputy mayor.

The minimum age for a candidate is 21. The draft does not state whether elections will be held on party basis. The term of office of a local government shall be four years from the date on which it holds its first meeting.

The draft bill also stipulates that once a local government completes its term, the government may appoint an administrator to perform the functions until the next local government assumes office within six months.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2013.