Key legislation: Assembly empowers Ehtesab Commission

Local Govt Act amended to ensure nazims are elected with majority vote.

PESHAWAR: As legislative bills continue to dominate proceedings at the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, the house passed key amendments to the local government and Ehtesab Commission acts on Thursday. The session was later adjourned until September 7.

An important bit of legislation was the amendment to the K-P Ehtesab Commission (Amendment) Act 2015, which was tabled by Minister for Law Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi. The amendment was passed with a majority approval from the house and the law’s effectiveness now dates back to January 1, 2004. This means the commission has the authority to dig out cases dating back to the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal regime.

All offences under this act shall be non-bailable and no court can grant bail to a suspect booked under it. Similarly, those convicted by an Ehtesab court for an offence under this act shall not be entitled to any remission in his or her sentence.

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The government now also has the authority to declare any premises as a police station, while the director general or an officer authorised by him may declare any location as a police station or a sub-jail. The purpose is to aid the arrest of suspects and conduct effective investigations.

The amendment also defines the trial procedure of the Ehtesab court which will have to dispose of a case within three months and hold hearings on a daily basis. The court shall not adjourn a trial for more than seven days, while the date, once fixed, cannot be altered.

Also, Minister for Local Government Inayatullah Khan tabled legislation for consideration and it was later passed as the K-P Local Government (Fourth Amendment) Act 2015. The amendment defines the appointment procedure of nazims and naib nazims at the tehsil and district levels.

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It was decided that both officials would be elected by gathering the majority vote from all members of their respective councils, if none of the candidates secures a majority in the first round of voting. In case of a tie between the two leading contestants, runoff elections will be conducted twice with an interval of one week. However, if none of the candidates emerges victorious after the runoffs, the council shall stand dissolved and the matter would be referred to the election commission for fresh polls.

Opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rahman objected to the amendments, saying legislative bills should be processed and discussed by the assembly’s standing committee to ensure there are no shortcomings.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2015.