ISLAMABAD, May 28: The Supreme Court held on Friday that the newly evolved local government system needed drastic changes and that it should be allowed to function freely with no political and bureaucratic interference's disrupting its working.

"Democracy at the grass-roots level is altogether a new experience in Pakistan's democratic system which has its own peculiar characteristics, and since it is borrowed from different countries by ignoring the ground realities, without completion of necessary infrastructure and spade work, it could neither deliver the goods nor the desired results."

These observations were made in a judgement in which the entire proceedings of a no-confidence motion against the nazim of Data Gunj Bukhsh Town Lahore, Khawaja Ahmad Hassam, were set aside by the court for being mala fide.

Authored by Justice Javed Iqbal, the judgment said that the devolution plan and all the new laws and rules framed to make it functional needed an independent, impartial and thorough review as drastic changes would be needed to achieve the desired results.

The 47-page judgement asked for a re-initiation of the no-confidence motion if so desired by the house. It held that if Pakistan was to be a real democracy, then all its inhabitants must have a say in their affairs.

"Such a goal can only be achieved if there is no politically motivated interruption and interference from any quarter," it said. Referring to the notification that authorized the district coordination officer of the city district government Lahore, to perform as nazim in place of Mr Hassam, the verdict said the elected representative could not be substituted by a bureaucrat. It said that the issuance of the notification smacked of mala fide intentions.

"The system needed to be different," it said, "from seemingly failed systems under which a beautifully trimmed structure was set up with all the frills of parliamentary democracy, but hollow from within and which was suspended from above without any base below."

A no-confidence motion was moved against Mr Hassam and backed by a majority of the members of the tehsil council. According to Section 63 of the Local Government Ordinance 2000, the motion was then required to have been referred to the union council. According to the rule, the nazim would have ceased to be nazim if the motion would have been passed by a majority of the members, but that was not done.