LAHORE: Acting Governor Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has raised objections to the Punjab Local Government Act of 2021, recently passed by the Punjab cabinet, seeking that tehsil councils be made part of the local government system besides fixing qualification requirement for mayor and district council chairman.

PML-Q minister Muhammad Rizwan had also raised objections to the PLGA 2021 in the cabinet meeting and left the meeting in protest.

Punjab local government and community development department secretary Noorul Amin Mengal on Monday briefed the acting governor about the PLGA 2021.

The secretary told the governor that village and district councils had been proposed in the new local government system. However, the acting governor suggested that the tehsil councils also be included in the LG system.

The Punjab government has been caught between the devil and the blue sea as the Election Commission of Pakistan had directed the Punjab government to finalise the PLGA 2021 by Nov 30 so that it could go for delimitation of respective LG constituencies.

It is learnt that Punjab Local Government Minister Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed and Mr Mengal would brief the chief minister about the acting governor’s recommendations for a final decision.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2021