The Legislative Assembly of Gilgit-Baltistan has unanimously passed the Local Government Act, 2014. The Local Government Act, 2014, was drafted by the Select Committee notified by the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly. The Select Committee was provided technical support in this process by Strengthening Participatory Federalism and Decentralisation Project of UNDP-Pakistan and Gilgit-Baltistan Policy Institute.
Gilgit-Baltistan has had the Punjab Local Government Ordinance of 1979 enforced in the region since September 1979. The local government system was implemented in the region is based on two tiers: the District Councils and the Union Councils/Municipal Committees as the lowest tier. The middle tier of Tehsil Council was not notified officially when the Local Government Ordinance of 1979 was extended to Gilgit-Baltistan.
A participatory and consultative process had been adopted for drafting the local government bill 2014 similar to the Parliamentary Committee for Constitutional Reforms that drafted the 18th Constitutional Amendment. The 13-member committee had comprised from all political parties represented in the Assembly and conducted multi-stakeholder consultations in both Gilgit and Skardu to incorporate their feedback on the draft law.
A conscious effort was made by the committee to engage with political parties, representatives of civil society organisations, youth and women leaders and constitutional experts. It is of pertinent to note that the new local government law is in line with the Charter of Democracy that called for local government elections on party-basis.
The local government legislation in Gilgit-Baltistan promises to maximise benefits of self-governance to the people at the lowest tier, introduces local participatory and democratic decision-making processes, encourages women participation in local governments, and ensures effective transfer of power from the regional to the local government. The Gilgit-Baltistan Government will now work with the Election Commission of Gilgit-Baltistan to map out the process of conducting the local government elections.
The key features of the Gilgit-Baltistan Local Government Act 2014 include:
Notification of urban and rural areas in which local governance structures will be formed comprising elected representatives through adult franchise basis and indirectly elected members on reserved seats for women and religious minorities, party basis local government elections under single ward electoral system for encouraging greater cohesion amongst different religious groups and ensure sectarian harmony in the region, introduction of standing committee system has for effective participatory development policy planning, monitoring and implementation, formation of Local Government Commission to ensure a link between the Gilgit-Baltistan Government and Local Government structures, establishment of Local Council Board to oversee the appointments and other service related matters of local government employees, establishment of two city metropolitan corporations in Gilgit and Skardu Districts headed by a Mayor and a Deputy Mayor, formation of Jirga Anjuman at District Council and District Council levels for out-of-court settlement of disputes, reservation of seats for women, (the law specifically mentions that any local council will not be considered effective and functioning unless the required number of women seats has been filled) and performance audits of the line departments etc.