‘Clear’ provisions of SC order on LG to be implemented ‘immediately’: Ghani
A day after the Supreme Court’s decision on local government law in Sindh, provincial information minister Saeed Ghani said that the provisions that are “clear” will be implemented “immediately”, while the provincial government will seek “clarity” on the provisions that are not clear.
Speaking to the media after attending the provincial cabinet meeting, Ghani said that the government is planning to make changes to the law following its agreement with the Jamaat-e-Islami.
“A committee has been formed to make changes in the local government laws. The committee will now look where changes are required. However, till the new local body elections, district counsellors will keep on working,” said Ghani.
Coming to the Supreme Court verdict, the minister said that the order was discussed in “detail” in the cabinet meeting and a committee has been formed to look into the decision.
“We will look at which provisions need to be implemented,” said Ghani. The Sindh information minister said that the apex court in its decision had declared two sections of the 2013 local government law as “illegal” and it was not a “big deal”.
“Supreme Court judges understand the law better than us; however, a review application will be filed before the Supreme Court on some things,” said Ghani.
The minister was also of the view that the Supreme Court ruling is applicable to all provinces and affects the federal and provincial governments. “Governments always carry out delimitation of national, provincial and local government (seats). Peoples Party has always fought and won elections on constituency’s made by [its] rivals. But in our time the delimitation is done by the Election Commission,” claimed Ghani.
Meanwhile, the Sindh government on Wednesday announced the formation of a committee to discuss the contentious local government laws with opposition parties in the province.
The decision was taken during a cabinet meeting chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, who a day earlier, had said that the provincial government would accept the order of the Supreme Court to devolve powers to the local bodies under Article 140-A of the Constitution.
The committee will include the minister for local government, minister for labour, minister for parliamentary affairs, minister for irrigation and a legal adviser.
During the cabinet meeting on Wednesday Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Shah apprised the cabinet of his talks with opposition parties regarding LG law. He said that the committee would review the law and send a summary to CM Murad. The provincial chief executive stated that the committee’s Terms of reference would also be notified. The forum decided to implement 100pc of the points agreed upon by Nasir Shah with the opposition parties. During the cabinet meeting, it was also decided to declare Bundle island as a protected forest area. Furthermore, the provincial cabinet was apprised that the Matiari-Lahore 4000 MW high voltage line was 878 km long. The commercial operation of this line, which has been made under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, has also started.
