ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Wednesday issued notices to the president and the secretaries, Interior and Law Divisions, in a petition challenging the new Local Government Ordinance.

A single bench of Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani issued the notices on the petitions of the local body representatives of the federal capital.

The IHC bench directed the respondents to submit their response and deferred the hearing till January 11th. Sardar Mehtab Khan, ex-chairman of a union council, moved the court through advocate Adil Aziz Qazi and challenged the Islamabad Local Government Ordinance, 2021. He adopted that the direct election of the mayor and removal of deputy mayor was against the law.

The counsel, Qazi, contended that the council of unelected persons to run a local government was also against the law. He stated that the legislature of the country deemed it necessary that political, financial, and administrative functions of the government be devolved at the grass-roots level for the betterment of the people at large. He said, however, the amendment will have far reaching legal and administrative impact.

He further said that the Constitution empowers the president of Pakistan to promulgate the ordinance under Article 89 and recently the President of Pakistan while exercising the powers vested in its office under the said Article has promulgated an Ordinance called “Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Ordinance 2021.”

He argued that the said ordinance has been promulgated without passing the necessary tests imposed under the Constitution for legislation through the mode and manner of Ordinance.

“Through the said ordinance, the respondents have introduced an altogether new structure of the Local Government in Islamabad and created multiple tiers within the local government. In doing so they have provided a mechanism for Direct Election of the Mayor of Islamabad, no deputy mayor(s), created an ICT Council who would be an unelected nominated body of Members appointed/ nominated by the Political parties, and Neighborhood councils which have no direct link with the ICT Council or even the Mayor of Islamabad,” stated Qazi.

He contended that the promulgation of the “Ordinance” is based on malice and required conditions have not been met by the respondents. He, therefore, prayed before the court that the Ordinance and its promulgation be declared as ultra-vires to the entire scheme of the Constitution.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021