29 October 2004	Friday	14 Ramazan 1425

PESHAWAR, Oct 28: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday admitted for hearing a writ petition jointly filed by 20 district nazims against the NWFP government.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk and Justice Ijaz Afzal observed that the points raised by the petitioners needed consideration.

The court issued notice to respondents including the National Reconstruction Bureau and the federal and provincial governments.

The petitioners, including Naseer Muhammad Khan, district nazim of Charssada, and 19 others have requested the court to interpret different provisions of the NWFP Local Government Ordinance, 2001.

The petitioners have challenged a number of steps taken by the NWFP government including the formation of the NWFP Local Government Commission, posting and transfers of government officers without consultation and approval of the concerned district nazims, etc.

The petitioners have requested the court to declare various steps taken under the NWFP Local Government Ordinance 2001 by the provincial government as illegal and against the law.

Except nazims of Upper and Lower Dir, Haripur and Swabi, the nazims of all the remaining 20 districts of NWFP had been made party in the petition.

Senior advocate Qazi Mohammad Anwer appeared for the petitioners and contended that the government had been violating different provisions of the law and the concerned nazims had not been consulted in posting and transfers. He added that the acts of the provincial government had been hampering the smooth functioning of the local government institutions.

The deputy attorney-general, Hamid Farooq Durrani, appeared for the federal government, whereas additional advocate-general, Arbab Mohammad Usman, represented the provincial government.

The nazims have prayed the high court: "It be declared that Rule 25 & Schedule IV of District Government Rules of Business 2001 in respect of posting & transfers of employees is against the spirit of the NWFP Local Government Ordinance 2001 and that district nazim being the head of the District Government, no employee in Grade-17 and above can be transferred by the provincial government from the district without his consultation and further that consultation has to be meaningful and his views cannot be ignored without reason."

They further prayed the court to declare that in respect of the employees below Grade-17 the Executive District Officer/DCO etc are obliged by law to seek the approval of the district nazim before issuing the posting/transfer orders of the employees within the district or beyond.

The nazims further stated that a notification issued on Feb 8, 2003, about formation of the Local Government Commission was against the spirit of the law and was therefore illegal and improper. They prayed the court to issue appropriate directions to the government either to review the notification or as an alternative constitute fresh provincial local government commission strictly in accordance with the spirit of Section 131 of the Ordinance.

Moreover, the nazims stated that the Revenue Department being decentralised department had to function under the administrative and financial control of the district nazim and any directive by the Board of Revenue excluding the district nazim was illegal and in violation of the Ordinance. They also demanded that appropriate orders be given to the Board of Revenue for issuing proper notification that functionaries of the Revenue Department in the district should function under the administrative control of the district nazim and patwaris, etc., be not transferred without approval/ consent of the district nazim.

The nazims have also challenged their removal from the District Development Committee and have requested the court to declare that the notification No SO(COORD/P&D/177/04/2003, dated March 26, 2003 of the NWFP government about removing district nazim from the chairmanship of the District Development Committee was illegal and against the spirit of the Local Government Ordinance, the same be set aside and it be directed that District Development Committee was to be headed by the nazim.

The petitioners prayed that MNAs and MPAs should be required to concentrate on legislation business and should not interfere in the development schemes in the district and further instructions to the provincial government that public money be not wasted in the so called allocation of the development funds to the MNAs and MPAs for utilisation on their selective schemes.