PESHAWAR: The local government department has stopped all three tiers of local bodies across the province from approving new development schemes for the current fiscal.

The restriction comes as the district, tehsil, and village and neighbourhood councils are slated to complete their four-year tenure on Aug 28.

Ironically, many local bodies have already passed their respective annual budgets consisting of salary, non-salary and development funds.

The department has communicated the restriction to the district, tehsil, and village and neighbourhood councils through a letter.

Restriction comes as councils completing tenure on 28th

According to the letter, development budget of the outgoing local bodies can be allocated for the ongoing schemes and not the new ones.

“It shall be ensured that no new scheme is reflected in the development budget 2019-20 as ongoing. To address liabilities, ongoing schemes shall be reflected clearly and separately as carried out work,” it read.

The letter said those orders would be implemented and complied with in letter and spirit by all councils, principal accounting officers, and executing agencies.

Under the KP Local Government Act, 2013, the outgoing councils can’t perform their certain functions.

Section 33 (3) of the KP Local Government Act, 2013, said, “where a new local government is to take over during a financial year as a result of fresh elections, the outgoing local government shall not spend funds or make commitments for any expenditure, under any demand for grant or appropriation, in excess of eight percent per mensem of the budgeted funds for remainder of its term in office.”

The local government department has also invited the attention of the district councils to the recent major amendments in the local government law.

“Under the recently promulgated amendments to the Local Government Act, 2013, district tier has been done away with, which will result in a paradigm shift in local governments at both the remaining tiers of local governments (tehsil and village and neighbourhood) in terms of their mandates, powers, functions and development portfolio,” the letter said.

A district nazim told Dawn that the finance department while intimating districts about their share in development funds under the Provincial Finance Commission Award had committed a blunder in June by directing them to pass budgets for the current fiscal.

“District/Tehsil governments should ensure the approval of their budgets for the financial year 2019-20 by due time in 2019,” read a letter sent by the finance department to all district councils along with the funds breakdown.

The subject of the letter is ‘estimated resources to be transferred to the local governments for the financial year 2019-20’.

One of the assistant directors (local government) told Dawn that the local government department’s orders weren’t a surprise as the law was clear about the matter.

He said all tehsils and village and neighbourhood councils had passed their respective ADPs for the new and ongoing schemes.

“After the local government department’s directives, the budget for the ongoing development schemes will remain intact, while the new schemes approved by the outgoing councils will become null and void,” he said.

President of the Local Council Association, KP chapter, Himayatullah Mayar said under the law, there was no need to pass development budget by district councils as they won’t exist in the new local government system.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2019