KARACHI: The Supreme Court-mandated commission on water and sanitation on Thursday directed the provincial authorities to immediately appoint secretary of local government as it had direct nexus with the department concerned.

Head of the commission retried SC Justice Amir Hani Muslim also observed that the then minister for local government had made an attempt to place a misleading note before the chief minister to get a notification issued regarding the powers of deputy commissioner of Shikarpur to defeat the commission’s directives.

Chief Secretary Rizwan Memon told the commission that secretary of the local government department Mohammad Ramzan Awan was relieved on May 24 on the commission’s permission.

Ramzan Awan has been facing a corruption inquiry after NAB arrested his personal secretary

However, he further submitted that the additional charge as directed by the commission could not be assigned though the summary of Manzoor Shaikh of the R&S wing, Board of Revenue, assigning him additional charge of secretary of local government had been sent to the relevant authority.

Justice Muslim observed that the commission could not wait indefinitely for the posting of secretary of local government. And since the chief secretary had already floated the summary proposing Mr Shaikh holding an additional charge, the competent authority must immediately approve such a proposal, failing which a notification be issued by the chief secretary so that the functions of the commission, which had direct nexus with the local government department, were not defeated.

Ramzan Awan has been facing an inquiry into alleged corruption after the National Accountability Bureau arrested his personal secretary Mohammad Ramzan Solangi in his office at the Sindh Secretariat on April 18 on the allegation of corruption.

Shikarpur municipality issue

Meanwhile, the commission has held the then minister of local government responsible for making an attempt to overpower the commission’s directives.

Justice Muslim said that the commission in its order, issued on March 22, with the consent of the chairman and chief municipal officer concerned as well as the local government secretary, had handed over all the financial issues related to the Shikarpur municipality to Shikarpur Deputy Commissioner Syed Hassan Raza. This way he empowered the DC to operate the accounts of the municipality as an interim arrangement.

The commission had also appointed the district and sessions judge of Shikarpur as an inquiry officer and directed him to conduct a probe into the allegations against the chairman and chief municipal officer of Shikarpur and submit a report within two months. It had also clarified that Mr Raza would not be transferred till the commission passed a final order on the report.

The commission was informed on Thursday that the district and sessions judge had sought further time to complete the inquiry. It was further stated that the additional secretary of local government had issued a notification on May 30, which allowed the vice chairman to take over the charge from the Shikarpur DC. When Justice Muslim confronted Mr Channa, he submitted that the notification had been issued in compliance with the summary initiated by the local government department and approved by the chief minister on May 22.

The commission observed that in order to defeat its orders, an attempt was made by the then minister of local government to mislead the chief minister.

It ruled that the order of the commission could only be modified or suspended by the Supreme Court, adding that the Sindh government through a summary had modified the order in question.

However, the commission said that its March 22 order was still valid irrespective of the notification issued on May 30.

“The notification, which was based on a misleading note of the minister of local government cannot defeat the orders of the commission by which the deputy commissioner of Shikarpur was given the financial authority to run the Shikarpur municipality,” it added.

The commission directed the additional secretary of local government to immediately withdraw the notification as if it was never issued and asked the chief secretary and the commissioner of Larkana to ensure the compliance of the order. The notification in question was withdrawn later in the day.

Larkana Commissioner Abbas Baloch assured the commission he would be more careful in future and resolve the issues of public at large of all the districts, including Shikarpur.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2018