Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi President Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman has filed an application in the Sindh High Court challenging the recently passed Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act, 2021.
The petition submitted on Monday states: The Sindh government has historically maintained the erosive policy of increasing centralisation of municipal functions to the sheer detriment of the local government as well as the citizenry. “As a result, the crucial powers of revenue generation have also been withheld from the local government leading to the weakening of the institutions.”
It added that any such purported concerns relating to the lack of capacity of local bodies should be evaluated in light of the provincial government’s own deliberate role in undermining such capacities, and the obligation, therefore, lies on the provincial government to restore and replenish local bodies by empowering them, instead of further reducing their financial autonomy.
Hafiz Naeem has put forward the following demands before the court: The Jamaat-e-Islami has been protesting against the local government bill for the last three days in front of the Sindh Assembly in Karachi. They have called the new law “black”.
The protesters chanted slogans against the Sindh government and its legislators. On Monday, Hafiz Naeem announced that the JI women will hold a “historic rally” in the city today.
The new bill, passed by the Sindh Assembly on November 26, allows the provincial government to take over the management of the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Sobhraj Hospital, Leprosy Centre, and Sarfraz Rafiqi Hospital, and Medical and Dental College.The local bodies will be deprived of control over education and health departments as well.
The amendment will change the structure of the local government. As per the draft, the District Municipal Corporations (DMCs) will be converted into Town Municipal Corporations (TMCs).
