Funds release to PTI LG reps challenged in PHC

PESHAWAR: Local government representatives on Thursday filed a writ petition in the Peshawar High Court against the non-release of development funds to over 75 tehsil councils in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The petition, filed by Humayatullah Mayar and others through advocate Babar Khan Yousafzai, has made the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government as the respondent.The petition pleaded that in the initial phase of local government elections, candidates of opposition political parties of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were declared successful. Upon this, the provincial government made legislation and transferred their funds to the district administration. However, after PTI-backed candidates won in the second phase of local government elections, the Local Government Act was amended again to issue funds at the tehsil level.

The petition said that funds were finally released on December 5, 2024 after years but those were allocated to 56 tehsil chairmen affiliated with PTI, while 75 tehsils had been kept deprived.

It added that this practice had violated various constitutional provisions and was an injustice to the people of those constituencies, as these funds were intended to complete public-interest projects.