August 30, 2008	Saturday	Sha'aban 27, 1429

RAWALPIND, Aug 29: Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench here on Friday directed the provincial advocate general (AG) to personally explain the Punjab government’s position on points raised in a fresh petition by City District Nazim Raja Javed Ikhlas and some other nazims that was taken up for regular hearing.

Legal counsel for the petitioners, Tanveer Iqbal, told Dawn that Justice Maulvi Anwarul Haq directed the AG to appear in the court as some constitutional questions had been raised in the petition which was a follow-up to the first petition that was withdrawn last week.

The petitioners – District Nazim, Naib District Nazim Afzal Khokhar, Taxila Town Nazim Siddique Khan, Murree Town Nazim Sardar Saleem and Gujar Khan Town Nazim Chaudhry Azeem – making the Punjab government respondent through the secretary local governments and District Coordination Officer (DCO), maintained that the provincial government had been violating Local Government Ordinance (LGO) through simple administrative orders.

They said in the petition that the government had directed the district and town councils not to approve annual development programmes without consulting the local MNAs and MPAs and getting clearance from the relevant DCO, whereas the approval of all development projects was the prerogative of the local councils under the LGO.

The petitioner had further contended that the LGO had been given protection in the constitution and the law could not be altered through simple administrative orders.

It may be recalled here that the petitioners earlier withdrew their petitions about the interference of the provincial government in the local government affairs after the relevant facts were changed and they got their developmental budgets approved through the LHC orders.

Separately, Justice Anwarul Haq handed over two children to their claimant mother and allowed the elder child to go with his father after their mother sought their custody.

A scene was created outside the courtroom when the younger children – Haider Ali (11) and Hajira Bibi (13) – of Mohammad Saeed and Tahira Bibi said they did not want to be with their mother and preferred to live with their father.

The court only allowed Javed (15) to go with his father.

The children had been with their father since their parents separated on July 6, 2003. A legal wrangling between the two parents over the custody of the children had been going on since then in different courts.