Staff Reporter The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has filed a petition in Supreme Court challenging the Sindh Local Government Act (SLGA) 2013. Petitioners, PTI and Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, have moved the apex court seeking to expunge section 74 and 75 of the law. The petition also pleaded for declaring section 18 of the SLGA. The PTI petition pleads the court to issue an order for full-fledged powers to the local representatives in Karachi under Article 140-A of the constitution to ensure a local council system having financial and political powers. The plea also seeks the court order for handing over the water supply and sewerage systems to the local government (SLGA). The petition said that section 74 and 75 of the local government law (SLGA) confer authority to the provincial government and contravene Article 140-A of the constitution.The petition said that the PTI’s provincial governments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have delegated powers to the local councils. Federal minister Asad Umar addressing recently a gathering in Karachi said that the local government law (SLGA) in Sindh fails to meet the requirements of the constitution. “It is a law that denies empowerment of local representatives, and Karachi needs a government having administrative, financial and political powers,” he said.
