LAHORE - Though the Punjab Local Government Bill 2013 was put before a special committee of legislators for vetting and improving the same, no major changes appear to be made in it.
The committee went for the business without participation of the opposition members and, as per a report, it has completed the job and readied the draft law for presenting it to the PML-N leaders, after which it will be put before the House for legislation, hopefully, on August 12.
The opposition in the Punjab Assembly rejected the bill at the very outset and boycotted the committee, so it can be easily understood what shape the proposed law has attained after the one-sided consideration by the committee which, however, claimed to have entertained suggestions and proposals received from the legislators.
The experts on the issue say the LG bill is still far behind serving the purpose of making the elected public representatives autonomous to collect revenue and spend it on development of their respective unions, corporations or committees under the government check. The proposed law has reintroduced the position of DCs and commissioners over the local representatives’ demand for funds. This bureaucratic labyrinth will impede the earliest possible redress of public problems, damaging the basic theme of the LG system.
In the previous LG system, bureaucracy and police officials were made subservient to the demands and needs of the elected representatives at local level. The equation set by the previous system was quite irksome and unacceptable to the bureaucracy as it could not digest working under the matriculate elected persons. It was, however, productive for solving problems of the masses at the grassroots level though spending of funds by local bodies could not escape bungling.
In the proposed law, auditing of the LG bodies has again been left to the accountant general of Pakistan instead of holding an independent auditing.
The number of women on the reserved seats has been increased from one to two at union councils, from five to 10 at district councils and from 15 to 25 in corporations, but their representation is still less than the promised 33 per cent, which was also incorporated in the last system.
Another shortcoming in the new LG bill is lack of youths’ representation though PML-N leader have been saying it loud and clear that they would give representation to youths at every level.
A forum to keep check and punish the violators of the LG system under the nomenclature of Public Safety Commission was envisaged in the previous system. The commission was to comprise the officials and members of the civil society, with the duty to prevent illegalities and curb corruption. But such commissions were not formed last time. This time too they have been ignored despite the fact that their revival was perceived and demanded at public level.
Yet another salient flaw in the law is independent district health and district education authorities which appear running a system within the system though they would also be represented by the elected members. Previously, education and health were the key areas in which the LG had deep involvement for the reason that they related directly to people at the lowest level. A major chunk of funds was also allocated and placed at the disposal of the LG bodies for education and health. But this time the LG has been deprived of this authority.
The special committee has streamlined taxation system at district and union council level and enhanced the amount of fine and penalty against their misappropriation and corruption.
The most conspicuous weakness of the new bill is silent over holding the LG elections on party or non-party basis. This matter has been left to the House which is overwhelmingly represented by PML-N legislators and its supporters. Therefore, possibility cannot be ruled out that the matter would be bulldozed by the ruling side.
The existing system is insufficient to empower the people at grassroots level and appears a means to reinforce authority of MPAs over the LGs so that spending on development remains within their domain instead of going to the lower level. As such the experts view that under the new law, the assembly members will rule the roost as far as legislation and development works are concerned.