The Lahore High Court (LHC) has directed the secretary, local government, to prepare and get approved the budget and development schemes of Tehsil Council Kharian within 15 days.
The court passed this order in a writ petition filed by Kharian Teshil Nazim Nadeem Ashraf Kaira challenging the order of the secretary local government wherein he has stopped the ongoing development schemes in Tehsil on the plea that the government has not approved the budget, while the petitioner claimed that the council had given approval of these schemes in its special meeting.
The court observed that in case the Tehsil council failed to approve the budget it becomes the legal obligation of provincial government under section 112(7) of the Local Government Ordinance, 2001, to do the needful in this regard.
The court observed that according to the record submitted before the court, the council had failed to approve the budget, but it was the statutory duty of the government to approve the budget within the fiscal year. The court also said the failure of the council resulted in deprivation of local population of development programmes.