KARACHI, April 8: Sindh chief minister’s adviser on local government Wasim Akhtar has reiterated that appointments of officers for the city government was the prerogative of the provincial government and the city nazim was empowered to make transfers and postings of officials only up to grade 17.

In support of his contention, the adviser quoted the Sindh Local Government Ordinance’s Section 30 (Clause 2) which inter alia says that ”government shall appoint all officers and officials to the district offices, group of offices or other offices in the district specified in the first schedule.”

Commenting on a news item published in Dawn recently, he said that whenever one or two officers of the city government who were above grade 17 were transferred by the Sindh government, a hue and cry was made by the nazim despite knowing that it was the prerogative of the provincial government. Besides, transfers and postings of some officers of the CDGK had not affected the working or progress of development works, he added.

“As far as the provisions of the SLGO-2001 (as amended) and the Appoinment, Promotions, Transfers (APT) Rules are concerned they are implemented in letter and spirit to strengthen the devolution of power,” Mr Akhtar said, adding that the powers delegated in respect of human resources management to nazims including the city nazim under the SLGO and the APT Rules were neither interrupted nor affected nor interfered by the government.

The adviser said that it was amazing to note that although the Sindh government had devolved and decentralized its different authorities, organisations and departments and had also set up five additional groups of offices in the CDGK, the latter was still continuing with those functions which were required to be devolved to the TMAs under the provisions of the SLGO.

Referring to the SLGO’s Section 20 whereby no local government shall incur any debt or create liabilities over and above their income, he said that at a time when the CDGK and the TMAs were about to complete their four-year extended period, these local bodies were awarding contracts, incurring expenditure beyond their resource generation capacity and thus creating liabilities of millions of rupees for the forthcoming leadership of the CDGK and TMAs.

Mentioning about the irregularities in the CDGK’s parks and horticulture department and poor recovery position of its local taxes department, he said that it was strange to note that although the government had repeatedly urged the CDGK to take appropriate action against the officials of parks department in the light of an audit report prepared by the directorate of local fund audit and also for improving the local taxes department’s recovery position, the CDGK have, so far, paid no heed in these matters.