Empowerment of local bodies: SC to take up petitions on Wednesday

ISLAMABAD: Set of appeals by former Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar and the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf Chairman Imran Khan to decide the powers vested in the local bodies has been approved by the Supreme Court on Monday, ARY News reported.

The case hearing in the apex court has been set for Wednesday. The special bench, headed by the Chief Justice, will hear the counsels of both petitioners debate the extent of power and authority extended to the grass-roots level in the local government.

The appeals argue for the powers to local bodies on the grass-roots levels and the removal of bureaucratic impediments in the authority of municipal and district level representatives in the services.

READ: Wasim Akhtar files petition in SC seeks powers to local bodies

Another similar appeal from the local bodies in Balochistan has been set for the same hearing as well. On the other hand, an appeal from Pakistan Muslim League-N’s Daniyal Aziz Choudhry against the Punjab Local Government Act 2019 will be entertained in the same hearing set for Wednesday by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Early in March, then Karachi Mayor Akhtar reached Supreme Court with the petition seeking empowerment of local bodies in Sindh.

Talking to media, he said that his case sought enforcement of Article 140-A of the constitution which was important for the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan. He said the local governments in Sindh were deprived of powers against what is enshrined under Article 140-A.

The provincial government has kept all powers with it, he said, lamenting that Karachi and other parts of Sindh have been in a miserable condition.