HARIPUR, May 20: The provincial government has declared the March 31 proceedings of the tehsil council in contravention of the Local Government Ordinance-2000 and directed the tehsil municipal officer to withhold the tender process for all the development schemes approved by the council on that day.

Official sources told Dawn on Saturday that the tehsil council in its March 31 session approved 136 schemes worth Rs10 million under its Annual Development Programme for 2005-06.

The sources said that the session was boycotted by 23 members who termed the proceedings against the provisions of the Local Government Ordinance and called upon the provincial government to declare the session null and void. The session did not approve 23 schemes belonging to opposition members.

The opposition members led by Raja Ehtesham brought the matter to the notice of the provincial government through a letter addressed to Local Government Minister Sardar Muhammad Idrees. The opposition members said the convener continued the proceedings though he was reminded that the session lacked quorum.

The sources said that the provincial minister, after a probe into the matter, annulled the proceedings and directed Tehsil Municipal Officer Farooq Ahmed Khan to stop the process of calling tenders for the development schemes approved by the session.