Withdrawal of powers: PHC directs govt to respond to LG reps petition

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday directed the provincial government to respond to the petition of the mayors and tehsil chairmen against the withdrawal of their powers and delegating them to the government officials.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Ejaz Khan Sabi heard the petition. The bench asked the provincial government to explain under what law it had withdrawn the powers from the representatives of the local governments. The bench directed the provincial government to submit its reply till August 15.

Farooq Afridi Advocate appearing for Mayor Peshawar Zubair Ali, told the bench that under Article 32 of the Constitution, the government was supposed to strengthen the local governments so that the representatives of the people could serve the electorate at the grassroots. He said that it was the responsibility of the government to ensure the devolution of powers at the grassroots. He said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly had passed the Local Government Act in 2013 to regulate the affairs of the local bodies but the secretary local government recently issued a notification delegating the administrative and financial powers to the secretary of the Local Council Board, which was against Article 14-A. He said that notification had delegated all the powers to the secretary of the Local Council Board. He said that this amounted to withdrawing the powers from the elected representatives of the local government, which was illegal and unconstitutional. He requested the court to declare null and void the notification.