LAHORE, June 14: The Data Ganj Bakhsh Town Council on Monday expressed no-confidence against Naib Nazim Mian Usman in his absence by a majority vote. Of 44 councillors marking their attendance, only 30 cast votes.
Two votes were rejected because of double voting while the remaining 28 were cast against Mian Usman whose supporters walked out when presiding officer Mian Riaz Ahmad did not entertain their objection in respect of conducting no-confidence proceedings in his absence.
Three supporters of Mian Usman - Rana Liaquat Ali, Syed Ashfaq Husain and Irfan Butt - were denotified by the Election Commission on Monday. The Election Commission paved the way for Mian Riaz, third in the order of four presiding officers named for chairing the Data Ganj Bakhsh Town Council session in the absence of Naib Nazim by denotification of Rana Liaquat Ali, second in the order, on the day the no-trust motion was submitted against Mian Usman to the town municipal officer i.e June 10.
Ziauddin Ansari, the first in the order of the panel of presiding officers, had resigned and got elected the Punjab Assembly member. The executive district officer (law), City District Government, was present in the meeting to advise Mian Riaz and conveyed the outcome of the meeting to his superiors.
Mian Riaz started the proceedings by thanking his companions for showing confidence in him for presiding over the council session, convened by him to consider the no-trust motion against Mian Usman.
Nazir Swati, Sher Bahadar, Malik Munir and Shahid Majeed objected to the convening of the council session by Mian Riaz asserting that the power was vested in the town Nazim.
They also objected to the conducting of no-confidence proceedings against Mian Usman in his absence, and stressed the need for ensuring his participation in the proceedings to explain his position viz-a-viz the allegations.
They claimed that Mian Usman had informed Mian Riaz that he could not attend the meeting due to his illness. Mian Riaz said he had got the agenda of the meeting delivered at Mian Usman's office on June 12, but he had fallen sick after his failure to get a stay order against it.
He said he had not received any leave application from Mian Usman. This resulted in an exchange of hot words between the councillors followed by departure of Mian Usman's supporters.
Speaking on the no-trust motion after the departure of the opponents, mover Nadeem Chaudhry said Mian Usman had lost confidence of the house for favouring Town Nazim Khwaja Hassaan and returning the second no-confidence motion submitted against him. He also accused him of submitting a bogus affidavit against four members of the house.
Seconding the motion, Mian Rashed said Mian Usman had forwarded a reference against him and three of his companions accompanied by his affidavit. He also accused Mian Usman of not bringing complete proceedings of the house against the Town Nazim on record.
Yousaf Lodhi said Mian Usman allowed only the members of a particular political party to speak in the house and had become a party with the Town Nazim since the adoption of a no-trust motion against him on Aug 11 last and dissolved the committees of the house. He also used to get angry during the proceedings.
Abdul Samad Ghani said Mian Usman had pleaded his case in the Lahore High Court, but the house was being told that he was sick. Moreover, a number of development schemes had been approved without being presented in the house.
Khurram Shahzad claimed that Mian Usman had stayed away from the proceedings because he could not face the house. Talking to newsmen after voting on the motion, Mian Riaz said he had conducted the proceedings on the no-confidence motion under Section 72 (2) of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 2001, and issued the agenda of the meeting on June 11.
Police kept the area around the town office under siege from early in the morning till the conclusion of the session. Entry into the town office was restricted.