The Sindh government has decided to make amendments in the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act 2021 in the light of a Supreme Court judgement and agreements reached with various political parties.
A ministerial committee set up by the Sindh cabinet to review the top court’s Feb 1 verdict on local government powers has put forward its proposals on the LG law.It decided against filing a review petition against the SC verdict.
The committee proposed that the administrative control of the Mass Transit Authority and Food Authority be not transferred to local governments and that the environmental protection agency should also stay with the provincial government. The committee will present its recommendations to Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and the cabinet.
It is noteworthy that the Supreme Court had on Feb 1 directed the Sindh government to devolve powers to the local government in the province.
The top court gave this verdict on a petition filed by the MQM-P through which it sought transfer of power to the local bodies in Sindh.
Former chief justice Gulzar Ahmed, who authored the judgement, said that it was the local governments’ prerogative to make and implement master plans. The provincial government cannot start a project which is under the local government’s domain, ruled the Supreme Court.
