LAHORE, July 12: The Punjab government on Wednesday notified to appoint four officers of district governments, including DCOs, as special magistrates to enforce price control laws and punish violators in the province.

The government had so far been expecting the National Reconstruction Bureau to provide it with a pattern to amend the Local Government Ordinance-2001 to appoint price magistrates. The NRB was also supposed to get prior approval of the president for the purpose.

“The government has now through an executive order appointed special magistrates to control prices after lack of response from the NRB that appeared to be reluctant to amend the ordinance,” official sources said.

The move, however, faced objections from some senior government and judicial officers who said the executive could not assume judicial powers in view of the Supreme Court’s decision of 1995 whereby it had separated the judiciary from the executive.

According to the notification, the government appointed district coordination officers, executive district officers (Revenue), district officers (Revenue) and deputy district officers (Revenue) as special magistrates with the powers of 1st class magistrates, exclusively for the trial of offences relating to price control.

These officers are supposed to control prices under the existing provincial or federal law having the powers to raid and try the offenders on the spot in their areas of assigned jurisdiction in addition to their own duties.

The appointments were made by the competent authority in exercise of powers conferred upon it under Section 14-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.

The authority also authorised all the DCOs in the province to define the local areas of jurisdiction, from time to time, for such magistrates, within which they might exercise all the powers as provided Under Section 14-A of the CrPC.

Opponents of the move question its legality in the light of the Supreme Court decision separating the judiciary from the executive. The court had disallowed the exercise of judicial powers by the executive officers, they said.

Penalizing or punishing was the exclusive job of the judiciary, while the NRB too had been foiling attempts by the provincial governments to restore the executive magistracy, they said.

Some provincial officials too wondered as to how the government would meet the legal requirements to implement the decision.

They said instead of issuing an executive order, the government could appoint judicial magistrates for controlling prices as provided in the local government ordinance through the latest amendments made to it in June last year.

The amendment had allowed the government to appoint one or more 1st class magistrates at tehsil or town headquarters, who would work exclusively under the sessions judge, and not perform any executive function, to deal with the cases relating to local and special laws, and offences under the (local government) ordinance.

“Application of this clause of the ordinance would have been better for the provincial government as it would not invite opposition from any quarters including the judiciary,” the officials claimed.

Announcement regarding the appointment of price magistrates was made by the federal government at the time of the presentation of its 2006-07 budget last month.