Under the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, Federation devolved its powers to the provinces. And in turn, these provincial governments were to shed powers to the local governments. But even after the elections of the local bodies, they are not prepared to devolve powers to them. The Political parties elected representatives demands must be accepted.
The idea & purpose of local governments will be destroyed if they remain deprived of essential powers. The subjects over which federal government exercised authority were transferred to the provinces. In the recent local bodies, election various political parties got the mandate. Except for KPK, none of the other province ha transferred powers to the local governments. This anomaly has given rise to a Crisis. Now the provincial governments & local governments are pitched against each other.
It seems Sham elections were held to throw dirt in the eyes of the people. These toothless governments cannot run their business. Most of the powers are presently used by the minister of local bodies. A tussle has ensued between M Q M and PPP in Sindh over the transfer of power. So far the Sindh government has not yielded to MQM’s genuine demands.
On Wednesday, January 27th, 2016, the Chief Justice Jamali and head of the three Judges’ bench hear the petitions with regard to the transfer of power to the local bodies. The Court showed its annoyance over not transferring the powers to the local bodies. The Court called the Attorney General and Advocate generals along with Secretary local bodies and concerned officials to appear before the Court.
The Court opined that it appears that the government has not given any importance to the local bodies. What is the use of such elections after which powers are not given to them to function Justice Khosa said, “Do the government wants to keep them as a showpiece”. If it is not the case then why the powers are not given to the local bodies?
I think the Supreme Court has taken the right step to decide the case by asking these officials to appear before the Court & explain the government’s position. Let us hope that better sense prevails over the provincial government, and authority is given to them.
