KARACHI, Feb 27: Absence of magisterial powers is holding back city government officials in fulfilling their responsibilities not only to come hard on profiteers, but also on those violating laws, rules and regulations.

Land grabbing, encroachment, illegal construction, tax evasion and over-charging are some of the subjects where an official with magisterial powers could deal with law-breakers effectively and confidently.

The introduction of devolution plan within the prevailing system of governance has created sort of ambiguity and confusion, ultimately leading to arguments over jurisdiction of authority.

There are more than 100 special and ordinary laws where magistracy has a key role to play and most of functions related to these laws are performed by district government officials, but they are unable to take action against violators.

Officials of different departments of CDGK told PPI that the root cause of illegal practices prevailing in city was the absence of powers supposed to be vested in local government officials to curb such activities.

Encroachment is rampant in city while the concerned department is helpless to take action without being authorized to do so. Recovery of taxes is another area where the CDGK has to face a lot of hardship to force defaulters to make payments.

A CDGK official referred to the continued practice of illegal construction of buildings, despite regular campaigns by the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) to demolish such structures. He remarked that without imposing heavy fines on elements involved in illegal practices, the problem could not be solved.

The situation of overcharging is worst. Price control system does not work as despite numerous steps taken in this regard, the trend is growing with every passing day. The ground reality draws a picture suggesting an adverse result of these steps.

Another official, associated with the KDA wing, said that there used to be four magistrates in the (now defunct) KDA authorized to take action against violators of laws and rules.

"We had been facing no problem in taking action against those involved in illegal activities because of we had invested magisterial powers in the concerned officials. But now mafias are active without any fear of punishment," he said.

EDO Enterprise & Investment Promotion (E&IP) Raeesuddin Paracha, when contacted, said that absence of magisterial powers with CDGK officials had not only given a free hand to mafias but also deprived local government of revenue through the fine imposed on law-breakers. The amount of fund would make a big chunk of the total revenue.

He said that there was a separate magistracy department envisaged under the original draft of the devolution plan, but it was later removed from the for reasons best known to people at the helm of the affairs.

When asked about any progress with regard to the city government's efforts towards getting magisterial powers for its officials, he said that a number of summaries had already been moved to the provincial government."

"In the absence of magisterial powers, all of us have been witnessing the price hike of edible items," he said, and expressed the fear that the situation might aggravate further in case of further delay. -PPI