September 21, 2008	Sunday	Ramazan 20, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 20: A heated debate took place in the City Council on Saturday when treasury and opposition members started rowing over the quorum issue and the convener of the house allowed a resolution on administrative changes in Gulshan Town for approval.

As soon as the resolution was tabled, treasury leader Masood Mehmud stood up and informed the convener that since the resolution had been debated thoroughly in the previous session, it should now be put to the vote.

But opposition leaders, including Saeed Ghani of the Awam Dost panel, did not agree to the assertion of the treasury leader and expressed their reservations over the resolution, speaking about many ambiguities in the resolution.

They argued that the house was not a proper forum to debate an issue pertaining to internal administrative changes of a particular town and, more importantly, it was not duly processed and formulated as there were many anomalies which, they maintained, were also pointed out by officials concerned in the document.

Opposition leader Saeed Ghani termed it against the bylaws of the Sindh local government ordinance and urged the convener to seek legal opinion on the issue.

A leader of Al-Khidmat panel, Islamuddin, said the resolution was very important as it was related to the devolution formula, which was not the subject of a particular town. He argued that the devolution was linked with the federation, the provinces and then districts only.

Another opposition leader, Advocate Saifuddin, raised the issue of quorum, saying that the house should defer the issue to seek further legal opinion on it.

Treasury leaders Asif Siddiqui and Masood Mehmud opposed the contention of the opposition leaders, saying that quorum was not necessary in an already adjourned session.

They maintained that this was an adjourned session and could take a decision on an under-discussion subject and that the opposition was deliberately obfuscating the issue.

The treasury leaders urged the convener to put the motion to the vote.

After hearing arguments of both sides, the convener submitted the resolution for vote. The opposition members protested against the attitude of the convener and staged a token walkout from the house.

In the absence of opposition members, the house adopted the resolution.

The resolution lauded Gulshan Town’s efforts for restructuring the town, creating new posts and bringing about changes in the names of departments and grades.

The house also adopted another resolution directing the executive district officer (health) of the city government to complete the process of decentralisation by renaming the decentralised departments which retained the old names.

The house also approved the pay-scales of the CDGK’s paramedical staff, restructuring of the executive and its budget.

Dr Aafia Siddiqui case

Ramzan Awan of the Awam Dost panel tried to raise the Dr Aafia issue in the house when he stood up on a point of order and drew the attention of the house to the grave situation faced by a citizen of Karachi.

Mr Awan said the case was a source of concern for every citizen of Karachi and this house should take up the issue seriously, adding that her son was released but the whereabouts of her daughters were not yet known.

But the convener ignored his remarks and adjourned the session indefinitely.