Mayor officially assumes charge

Rawalpindi: Finally, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz's (PML-N's) Sardar Naseem Khan has officially taken the charge as Mayor Rawalpindi here on Thursday.

Chaudhry Tariq Mehmood has also taken the charge as deputy mayor of Metropolitan Corporation Rawalpindi (MCR). The Punjab government has formally issued a notification to implement the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) in this regard.

According to the charge assumption report, in pursuance of the government of Punjab, Local Government & Community Development Department, Lahore vide Notification No. SOR(LG) 1-11/2019 dated 17th October 2021 to short order dated 25-03-2021 on August Court and the detailed judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in writ petition No. 48/2019 announced on July 2021, Sardar Muhammad Naseem Khan assumed the charge of the Mayor, Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi (MCR).

All chairmen and vice chairmen of different political parties were also accompanied Mayor Sardar Naseem Khan on the occasion.

After taking the charge as Mayor Rawalpindi, Sardar Naseem Khan has warned all officers of MCR to work day and night for the prosperity of citizens. He has directed the concerned staff of all union councils to fully cooperate with chairmen and vice chairmen to resolve all public related issues.

The mayor said that with the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan District Council and Union Council have been restored completely. “All staff should work day and night and if anybody stopped them to do work, I will register FIR against them,” he warned. He has also ordered to turn back all staff of Metropolitan Corporation Rawalpindi (MCR).

During media talk, Mayor Rawalpindi said that Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar stopped the local body system which created an uncertain situation. “But, now we will work day and night to provide maximum relief to the public,” he claimed. He said that the PTI government has provided funds of MNAs and MPAs at the ratio of 60/40.

He said, “I will personally check the performance of all officers of MCR.” He also ordered the concerned quarters to provide him all details of the Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC) budget. He strongly appreciated the role of media because we got this success after the struggle of 29 months.

Mayor Sardar Naseem Khan also summoned the Chief Officer (CO) Metropolitan Corporation Rawalpindi (MCR) Ali Abbas Bukhari, Town Officer (Infrastructure) Rafaqat Gondal, Town Officer (Regulation) Imran Ali, Malik Tousif, and several other officers to his office.

All officers congratulated Sardar Naseem Khan for assuming the charge as Mayor officially and assured him to obey all his orders. The officers said that they are obeying the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The mayor also directed all officers to show their performance in the best interest of the public.

It is worth mentioning here that some three months back, Mayor Rawalpindi broke the locks of the Metropolitan Corporation Rawalpindi (MCR) office and took over the charge with force.

The sitting government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) dissolved local governments in the federal capital, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in February this year and despite a detailed judgment on the restoration of local government in Punjab by the Supreme Court, no step had been taken to restore the local body system properly.

The chairmen and vice chairmen said that the government was bound to issue a notification to restore the local body system in the province. “For reasons to be recorded later, Section 3 of the Punjab Local Government Act 2019 (PLGA) whereby the local bodies were dissolved is declared ultra vires of the Constitution and the local government as were existing in Punjab prior to the promulgation of Section 3 stand restored and it shall complete its term in accordance with the law,” ruled Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed on March 25.