KARACHI, April 27: Governor Muhammedmian Soomro promulgated on Saturday the Sindh Local Government (second amendment) ordinance 2002.

The ordinance, which shall come into force at once, says that in section 32 in the first proviso after the word “that”, the word “primary” shall be added and for the words “Taluka Municipal Administration”, the words “ District Government” shall be substituted.

In section 103, following the new proviso, shall be added:

“ Provided further that in bringing parties to a dispute to an amicable settlement, Musalihat Anjuman shall have regard to the provisions of section 345 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Code (Act v of 1898) Hudood Laws and all other laws for the time being in force whereunder certain offences are not compoundable.

Provided also that every settlement brought by Musalihat Anjuman in a case pending before a court shall be subject to the approval of the said court.

The ordinance further says that in section 150 after sub- section (3) the following new sub-section shall be inserted:

“(3-A) The period of one year referred to in sub-section (3) shall be computed from the date of assumption of the office of the council:

Provided that in the year in which general elections are to be held, the by-election may be held within eighteen months.

The ordinance further says that in sub-section (2) the following new sub-section shall be added:

“Not withstanding any thing contained in section 109 and 119 for the fiscal year 2001-2002, the local governments may not set apart fifty percent of the development budget for utilization specified therein. Provided that the development schemes proposed by the citizen community boards shall be given priority and included in the budget presented to the councils for approval.”

Furthermore, in paragraph 39, in clause (d), the word “ cantonment” has been substituted with “local area”.—APP