Tuesday, September 15, 2009

By By Tariq Butt



ISLAMABAD: Either the tenure of the present local governments would be extended or administrators would be appointed by October 16 when their term expires. “If neither of these two options is followed, the local government system will collapse,” Attorney-General Latif Khosa told The News.

He had no idea about the government’s decision on the issue, but pointed out President Zardari has sought the opinion of the Law Ministry on the proposal of appointing administrators by the provinces and other recommendations contained in the case sent to him by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani for dissolution of district governments.

The attorney-general conceded there was no provision in the Constitution about nomination of administrators in the local governments as it used to exist earlier. In his proposals, formulated in consultation with the provincial governments and forwarded to the president, the prime minister recommended that President Zardari should give his assent as required under Schedule VI of the Constitution, allowing the provinces to appoint administrators and amend the local laws as they wanted.

More than once, Gilani has shown keenness for an early disposal of his summary by the president but Zardari has not acted as promptly and is waiting for the views of the Law Ministry, an official told this correspondent.

A total of 35 laws, including the Local Government Ordinance, listed in Schedule VI, can’t be altered, repealed or amended without the previous sanction of the president. The 17th amendment had placed these ordinances, issued in 2001, in Schedule VI.

Khosa said no provincial government has the power to amend the Local Government Ordinance unless the president accords his asset. However, he said these ordinances would be automatically omitted from Schedule VI as per Article 268 after six years of the passage of the 17th amendment in coming December. This means the requirement of presidential sanction to change these laws will be scrapped in coming December. The 17th amendment was enacted in December 2003.

According to Article 268, the laws specified in Schedule VI shall not be altered, repealed or amended expressly or impliedly without the previous sanction of the president accorded after consultation with the prime minister: provided that the laws mentioned at entries 27 to 30 and entry 35 (the four local ordinances and the Police Order 2002) in Schedule VI shall stand omitted after six years.

After getting the presidential assent or its omission from Schedule VI, the provincial governments want to revive the old local bodies like municipal corporations, district councils, town committees and union councils in place of the present district and city governments, etc., introduced by Pervez Musharraf eight years ago.

They plan to substantially change the prevailing arrangement. It is not necessary that they will change the present nomenclature of the heads of these organisations, which is Nazim, with mayor or chairman as these office-holders used to be called before 2001. There are indications that some of the positive aspects of the present local government system would be retained. The PML-N has shown great eagerness for early presidential assent and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had talked to Prime Minister Gilani more than once in the past.

His government plans to immediately appoint administrators from amongst the bureaucrats. The attorney-general said since the nomination of administrators was not provided in the existing local laws, the provinces might include such a provision before appointing administrators.