The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed the provincial law officer to file comments on the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s petition challenging certain amendments to the local government law introduced by the provincial government.
The petitioners said the government has introduced certain amendments to the LG law that are contrary to the constitution’s Article 140-A. They said the government has usurped several departments of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, including health, hospitals and education, through the new amendments, which is a sheer violation of the constitution that emphasises the devolution of power.
They said Karachi is home to around 30 million people, and thus needs an empowered metropolitan corporation instead of a powerless city district government. They said the government has maintained the erosive policy of increasing centralisation of municipal functions to the sheer detriment of the LG as well as the citizenry. The crucial power of revenue generation has also been held back from the LG, resulting in its weakness, they added.
They requested the court to declare the impugned amendments “unconstitutional”, and restrain the government from implementing them because these make the LG dysfunctional. The provincial law officer sought time to file comments and prepare himself in the matter to better assist the court. An SHC division bench headed by Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed granted him time and directed him to file comments by April 16.
