LAHORE, Aug 24: Justice Syed Asghar Haider of the Lahore High Court on Thursday reserved his judgment on the issue of the Punjab government not releasing funds to the Kasur district council despite it approved its annual budget in a formal session.

The court asked Dr Abdul Basit, the counsel for Kasur district nazim Rana Mohammad Hayat Khan, to submit by Friday morning his interpretation of certain provisions of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance in explaining his position about the budget session.

The petition against the Punjab government was moved by the district nazim, also a PML-N leader, who submitted that the annual budget was approved by the general house of the district council on July 29 after all legal requirements had been completed for calling a budget session. But, he submitted, the provincial government was showing reluctance in releasing budgetary funds.

The counsel stated that the budget session was convened by naib nazim Haji Maqsood Sabir Ansari who belonged to the ruling PML. But he failed to turn up at the session which he was supposed to chair. In his absence, the session was presided over by the nazim who was competent to do so under sections 42 and 112 of the law which stipulated that if the nazim commanded the support of a majority of the members to vote in favour of the budget proposals, the budget session was legal no matter who was in the chair.

The petitioner submitted that the budget was passed and this fact alone established that a majority of the members supported the session and also the nazim who presided over it. He submitted the failure of the naib nazim to turn up for the budget session despite he had himself convened it, had clear political motives.

He submitted the provincial government was maintaining a policy of discrimination against the local councils which were being headed by the nazim, belonging to the opposition parties. Such a policy, he submitted, was bound to defeat the very objective of the new local government system merely for the reason that a council had the majority of members who were its political opponents.

Representing the government, AAG Mohammad Sadiq submitted that the only interpretation of sections 42 and 112 of the local government ordinance was that the naib nazim alone was competent to preside over the budget session. He submitted the majority vote in favour of the budget proposal did not mean that this factor authorised a nazim to preside over the budget session. The budget session of the district council and its approval of the budgetary allocations for different schemes were illegal. — Correspondent