KARACHI: The Sindh cabinet in its meeting on Wednesday decided to defer the formation of town municipal administrations in Karachi as envisaged in Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act-2021 and retain the existing districts for municipal governance in the city till the next local government elections in the province.
While briefing media persons after the meeting of cabinet, Sindh Minister for Information and Labour Saeed Ghani said the provincial cabinet has approved an amendment to the newly passed Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act-2021.
He said the amendment to the newly enacted amendment act was aimed at delaying the formation of the towns and retaining the existing system of district municipal corporations in Karachi till the next local government polls. Ghani said the cabinet also considered Tuesday’s SC judgment and decided to implement some parts of judgment while seek clarification on others.
However, he said the cabinet had decided to ensure towns were formed as soon as the local government polls are held. Saeed Ghani said the cabinet was briefed in detail about the negotiations so far made by the Sindh government with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) to further amend the provincial local government law.
It decided to constitute a five-member committee to further improve the law in view of negotiations and the recent order of the Supreme Court to empower the set-up of municipal governance in Sindh.
The committee would comprise of Sindh Minister for Information and Labour Saeed Ghani, Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Sindh Parliamentary Affairs and Excise & Taxation Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla, Adviser to Sindh CM on Law Barrister Murtaza Wahab, and Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro. The committee would take into consideration all the issues related to the provincial local government law and present its recommendations to the cabinet.
Saeed Ghani said the cabinet had decided to declare Bundal and Buddo islands at Karachi coast as the provincial forest department. The notification would be issued in pursuance of the orders given by the honourable judiciary, he added.
The Sindh minister said the provincial government in the current year would procure 1.4 million tonnes of wheat at the price of Rs2,200 per 40 kilograms. He said the wheat procurement in the current year would begin from March 1. He further said the cabinet also considered the proposal to purchase pistols for Sindh Police. The Inspector-General of Police had been asked to first get information regarding pistol prices in the market. The minister told the media persons that the cabinet also approved the proposal to hand over a technical institute in Azam Basti of Karachi under the administrative control of Sindh Technical Education & Vocational Training Authority to Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science & Technology.
Ghani said the cabinet also approved compensation to the affected traders of Cooperative and Victoria Markets in Saddar, whose shops were burnt in two separate fire incidents last year. He said the cabinet also expressed serious reservations over the reports that Pakistan Steel Mills intended to give additional land to Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd for settling its gas dues. The cabinet came up with the firm view that the Sindh government ultimately owned Steel Mills’ land and the Steel Mills didn’t have the authority to hand over its land to another entity.
To a question, the provincial information minister said the petition had been filed before the apex judiciary against the local government system in the province, when the power to collect the property tax was not devolved to the municipal agencies in Sindh, while the mayor of Karachi had no role in Sindh Solid Waste Management Board, Karachi Water & Sewerage Board, and other such civic agencies related to the city. He said the apex judiciary except for amending sections 74 and sections 75 of the Sindh Local Government Act-2013 has not ordered anything against the existing provincial local government law and instead the law was approved by the court.
He said it was rather unfortunate that everyone was using his or her free will to interpret Article-140-A of the Constitution. regarding empowerment of the municipal agencies in the province.
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