RAWALPINDI, Dec 19: Almost all the 114 elected representatives of the Tehsil assembly are unhappy with Tehsil Municipal Officer (TMO) Col Najamul Hassan Malik, who, they allege, not only bypasses them in administrative affairs but also violates the Local Government Ordinance 2001.

Despite his sweeping powers in the new set-up, the TMO is accountable to the tehsil assembly, according to the ordinance.

However, Tehsil assembly members say, the Rawalpindi TMO has conveniently ignored this provision of the ordinance. Having come from the defunct Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation, Col Najam, with a typically bureaucratic mind-set, has been trying to maintain the status quo ante, they say.

The elected representatives accuse that the TMO fails to cooperate when approached for getting the problems of residents of their respective constituencies solved.

The people who have approached the tehsil municipal administration (TMA) in connection with their problems accuse him of a dictatorial attitude. The common man cannot even meet him, they added.

The recent decision of the TMO to give away 15 contracts without prior approval of the tehsil council evoked a strong protest from the tehsil assembly, which only reluctantly approved the contracts, allegedly under pressure from the district (army) support team.

The local government ordinance clearly says that contracts should be auctioned out only after the approval of the tehsil assembly.

A councillor alleged that the TMO, who is supposed to ensure that the business of the TMA is run in accordance with the Local Government Ordinance 2001, himself violates it either willingly or perhaps due to a lack of knowledge of its various clauses.

According to the ordinance, the TMO is the principal accounting officer of the TMA. The ordinance is nevertheless silent about qualifications of the TMO.

The foremost responsibility of the TMO is to redress the public complaints related to the TMA.

He is also supposed to liaison with the district government and its commission for resolution of disputes in which the TMA is a party.

The TMO has to ensure that the business of the TMA is carried out in accordance with law.

The TMO will coordinate the activities of the TMA with those of union administrations within the tehsil for a coherent and planned development of the municipal infrastructure.

Other responsibilities of the TMO include general supervision of the assembly’s activities and provision of information required by the tehsil council.

In exercising these functions, the TMO is not to bypass the tehsil Nazim and the assembly, the LG ordinance says.