May 03, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1429

LAYYAH, May 2: The Chaubara tehsil council has passed a no-trust motion against acting tehsil nazim, Chaudhry Muhammad Husain, allegedly at the behest of his predecessor, who is now an MPA belonging to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Seven members of the 11-member tehsil council voted on Wednesday to remove the acting-nazim from the slot he was holding since Oct 25, 2007, after former tehsil nazim Qaisar Abbas Magsi tendered resignation to contest the Feb 18 general elections.

Through another resolution, the council appointed Tassaduq Hussain, a naib nazim of Aulakh Thal Kalan union council, to act as nazim till a regular incumbent was elected to the slot in due course.

Though the Election Commission of Pakistan has been intimated soon after the slot of tehsil nazim fell vacant, no bye-elections have been ordered so far to elect a fulltime nazim.

The deposed acting-nazim has alleged that the whole proceedings adopted to oust him were illegal and that they took place at the behest of his predecessor and now PML-N MPA Qaisar Abbas Magsi. He alleged that he was being victimised for his inclination towards the PML-Q.

Though Hussain had assumed the charge on Oct 25, 2007, he was duly appointed as acting-nazim through a resolution passed by the tehsil council on Nov 3, 2007 and at that time nine out of 11 members of the house had voted in his favour.

Under the Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 2001, the tehsil council was bound to appoint an acting-nazim through a resolution within 10 days after the seat had fallen vacant.

Talking to Dawn, the deposed acting-nazim maintained that his removal was an outcome of his parting ways from Magsi prior to the Feb 18 general elections.

Hussain said that the MPA had developed grudge against him because he had supported his PML-Q rival Shahabuddin Sehar in the elections.

He said that three tehsil council members, Ghulam Muhammad Sumra, Abdul Malik Gill and Manzooran Mai, were not duly informed about the April 30 meeting of the council and he would challenge his illegal removal in a court of law.

He alleged that Magsi had committed various illegalities during his stint as nazim and wanted to rectify certain discrepancies from Tehsil Municipal Administrations (TMA) records but he resisted Magsi’s move to tamper records any more, especially after the Punjab government had sealed all the records of TMAs throughout the province.

Hussain said that soon after his removal, Tehsil Municipal Officer (TMO) Shehzad Hussain Sherazi de-sealed the records and allowed Magsi to rectify certain discrepancies – a job Magsi had considered “impossible” in his (Hussain’s) presence. He said this factor alone had led Magsi to plan his removal at the earliest.

He also alleged that TMO Sherazi was assisting Magsi in forging official records to avoid future complications or eventualities in case of a large-scale audit or any other eventuality, including administrative overhaul.

Magsi told Dawn that Hussain’s entire stay as acting-nazim was illegal because the secretary of the provincial local government and rural development department had not notified his appointment in the wake of tehsil council’s resolution. Thus, the tehsil council was wholly empowered to oust what he called “a stranger” in the prescribed manner.

The MPA emphatically denied his involvement in any illegalities and termed Hussain’s accusations as “rubbish”.

TMO Sherazi was not available for his comment. He was contacted repeatedly but he did not attend Dawn correspondent’s telephonic calls.