KARACHI: Amid a strong protest staged by the joint opposition in the provincial assembly, the Sindh Local Government (third amendment) Bill was passed on Wednesday empowering the provincial government to have a direct control and supervision over the local government institutions (local councils).

The pandemonium that had started with the tabling of the bill continued even after it was carried, as Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, PML-Nawaz and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf legislators tore copies of the bill in front of speaker’s rostrum while raising slogans of “No, No” and “Go corruption go”.

The uproar did not allow Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani to take up the next item from the order of the day to resume discussion on the current budget and pre-budget proposals for the year 2016-17. Failing to bring the house in order, announced a 10-minute break after which he adjourned the session at 12.50pm to reassemble on Friday morning.

This was the last of the three bills tabled through a supplementary order of the day by senior minister Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, as the Sindh Local Government (second amendment) Bill was passed on Tuesday, while the fourth amendment bill to restore Section 18-A of the Local Government Act, 2013 was adopted after an hour-long discussion in the house on Wednesday.

According to Section 18-A of the SLGA, political parties will be given reserved seats in local councils in proportion with their members’ strength on the seats reserved for women, peasants or labourers, youth and non-Muslim members in the council, in accordance with the practice in the senate, national and provincial assemblies.

Before adoption of this amendment to the act, PML-F lawmaker Shaharyar Mahar said that along with the restoration of Section 18-A an amendment also be introduced to remove ambiguity because there was no mention of how the reserved seats in union council and union committee would be filled. His point was endorsed by leader of the opposition Khwaja Izhar-ul-Hasan. During the reading of the bill, Mr Mahar also proposed an amendment that was rejected by most lawmakers and the bill was carried.

When senior minister Khuhro took up the third amendment bill, the leader of the opposition objected to it, arguing that the bill was against public interest.

However, MQM parliamentary leader Syed Sardar Ahmad said the third amendment to the Sindh Local Government Act 2013 had already been passed. He added that the third amendment could not be carried a second time. Mr Hasan said the amendment to the act had been carried according to the order of the Supreme Court as such no new amendment could be effected in the law.

Mr Mahar said the ministers did not want to see the completion of the local government election process. It was for this reason that they were using delaying tactics, he added.

Mr Khuhro said the proposed bill had no business with the election, as under the bill the local government had been given powers to monitor parks and gardens.

Local Government Minister Jam Khan Shoro said the local bodies laws of 1962 and 1979 had provision for such powers which were exercised by the then director of basic democracy and local government, respectively, to keep a watch on the local bodies. But as the monitoring role was eliminated in 2000, the purpose of this bill was to reintroduce the check and balance system, he said.

Mr Hasan said the Sindh government did not want to see the local government institutions functioning and want to make them “Tamasha”.

Mr Shoro said if the mayor, deputy mayor or chairman, vice chairman illegally allotted the local bodies lands or make their illegal use, should there be no one to check them.

The leader of the opposition argued that this bill could not be introduced in the house after the order of the Supreme Court. Warning that they would not allow the ruling party to act whimsically, all members of the joint opposition rose from their seats and started chanting slogans of “Shame, shame” and “No, no”. The lawmakers then converged in front of the speaker’s rostrum while raising slogans of “Empower local bodies, go corruption go and no corruption no”.

Despite the uproar from the opposition, Mr Khuhro introduced the bill and got it approved by voice votes.

According to the objects of the bill, the amendment to the SLGA-2013 was aimed at maintaining parks, gardens and open spaces and strengthening the monitoring role of the government to improve the functioning of the local councils. The council’s working will be inspected at least once in a financial year by the government or through regional directorates of the local government designated as inspecting officer or inspection team appointed by the government as may be prescribed. Under the bill, a corporation, municipal or town committee may and if so required by the government, shall lay out and maintain such public gardens as may be necessary for the recreation and convenience of the public either on their own or through public-private partnership or adoption by neighbourhood associations and reputed national or multinational corporations to be maintained and administered in such manner as the rules may provide.

After the approval of the bill, Speaker Durrani called for order in the house but the opposition continued to raise slogans against the bill. The chair said that discussion be resumed on the three quarterly reports of the current budget and the proposals for the next budget 2016-17, but the opposition did not end their protest. The speaker adjourned the session for 10 minutes after which when he took his chair at 12.48pm and tried to initiate discussion, the opposition again started protest by raising slogans. The speaker once more drew the attention of the opposition that it was the last day for discussion on the budget and if any legislator wanted to speak, he must grab the opportunity. But when no one came forward, he invited Finance Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to round up the discussion. Seeing disorder in the house, the chair then adjourned the session till Friday morning.

Talking to the media after the session, leader of the opposition Khwaja Izhar-ul-Hasan said the Pakistan Peoples Party was carrying out amendments to the local government laws according to their wish that he said amounted to contempt of court. He pleaded to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the situation, as the Sindh government did not want to devolve powers to the elected representatives of the local government, particularly to the mayor and deputy mayor, although the CJP had made it binding on all the four chief secretaries of the provinces to take necessary measures to give maximum powers to the local government institutions.

Mr Hasan said that the PPP was running the province as its personal fiefdom or state and carried out numerous amendments to the local government act. He appealed to the CJP to take suo motu notice of the extra constitutional measures.

He warned the government that if it did not change the autocratic attitude, they would adopt the same attitude that the PPP used to adopt in the past. “We will tear the budget documents in the house and if a new tax was imposed, neither the finance minister will be able to make budget speech nor the chief minister will be allowed to speak,” he said.

MQM parliamentary party leader Syed Sardar Ahmad said the three days were reserved for discussion on the budget only without any other item on the agenda but on Tuesday they came up with the supplementary order of the day with reference to the Supreme Court order. Even after the first bill was carried, the government brought another amendment bill with no relevance to the Supreme Court order, he said. The bill was aimed at controlling the local government representatives so that they could not discharge their responsibilities, he said, adding that all the opposition parties joined hands in protest against the whimsical amendments to the local government act.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2016