KARACHI: Spirit of LG system being negated, says nazim
By Azizullah Sharif
KARACHI, April 3: City Nazim Niamatullah Khan has said that the powers for appointing city government officials and judicial magistrate powers for controlling prices of essential commodities has not been devolved to the city nazim and town municipal administration respectively which negated the spirit of local government ordinance. “Isn’t it strange that as many as 3,500 primary and secondary schools and 120 colleges and a large number of major hospitals and dispensaries are under the administrative control of the city government, yet the appointments of teachers, lecturers, doctors and paramedical staff for these institutions are being made by the provincial education and health departments,” the nazim wondered.
He said that provincial departments were not willing to allow city government to make appointments in the departments belonging to defunct KMC and KDA and which had been automatically merged with the city government and which were not categorized as devolved departments of the provincial government.
The nazim while talking to Dawn on Thursday said that the provincial government’s education and health departments asserted that it was their right to appoint officials for city government’s education and health institutions because salaries of these departments were provided by them but what was the justification of making appointments in those departments, especially those belonging to defunct KMC and KDA, whose officials’ salaries was being borne by the city government itself.
“On the one hand, the Sindh government has deprived the city government of appointing officials in its departments and on the other, the provincial government is not prepared to delegate me (Nazim) even those powers which were enjoyed by mayors of defunct KMC,” he said, adding that former city mayors had the powers of transfer, posting and even of appointments of officials up to Grade 20.
“Isn’t it beyond one’s comprehension that how come a battalion of section officers, deputy secretaries, additional secretaries and others is still associated with those provincial government departments which had already been devolved to the city government,” Mr Khan remarked, saying such a situation is against the spirit of devolution plan whereby powers has been transferred at the grassroots level.
Referring to the recent transfers of the city government’s two senior officials — Executive District Officer (Works and Services) Shoaib Siddiqui and District Officer (Parks and Horticulture) Liaquat Ali Khan -–, Niamatullah Khan said that both the officials were transferred by the provincial local government department at a time when development projects such as construction of flyovers, roads, pedestrian bridges, bus shelters and model parks were going on in full swing. Their abrupt transfer without any rhyme or reason had resulted in slowing down the pace of all those development activities, he pointed out.
Describing such transfers as unlawful and uncalled for, he said that the Sindh Local Government Ordinance clearly stated that no officer should be transferred before three years of posting unless some charges of serious nature were framed against them.
Accusing the officials of Sindh Katchi Abadies Authority of interfering in the city government affairs, he said that the SKAA devolution to the CDGK was being inordinately delayed and the Authority was undertaking lease work even in those katchi abadies which came under the purview of the city government.
About the problems being faced by the city government and town municipal administrations in controlling prices of essential commodities, he urged the Sindh government to immediately appoint judicial magistrates and post them at TMAs and the CDGK for the summary trial of profiteers, encroachers of public land and of those shopkeepers who were flouting rules pertaining to hygienic conditions.
The judicial magistrates to be appointed for the TMAs and the CDGK may be placed under the chief justice of Sindh High Court but they be empowered to conduct summary trial against profiteers and black-marketers, encroachers of public land as well as against those creating unhygienic condition and violating other related municipal laws on behalf of the TMAs and the CDGK.
Admitting that the TMAs and the CDGK in the absence of magistrates are facing immense difficulties in controlling prices of essential commodities, he said that though he had been invested with the power of enforcing Section-144 in the city, the officials concerned had not yet been empowered with magisterial powers although these powers were even used to be enjoyed by the defunct zonal/district municipal corporations. At present, those who violate Section 144 were being apprehended and FIRs were being lodged against them at police stations but they often got bails, he added.
Underscoring the need for appointing judicial magistrates for the TMAs and the CDGK, he said that summary trial by the proposed judicial magistrates of those indulging in profiteering and hoarding, resorting to encroachments on public places and creating unhygienic condition would not only help in controlling the prices of essential commodities but would also serve as deterrent factor for those selling food items in unhygienic conditions.
