Punjab govt takes major step to make LG institutions functional

LAHORE: Punjab government has taken a major step to make the local government institutions fully functional by restoring the bank accounts under the Local Government Act 2013, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

The spokesperson to the Punjab government said in a statement that the bank accounts of the LG institutions have been restored under the Local Government Act 2013.

The authorities have issued instructions to the chief officers following the directives of the local government secretary.

The government will transfer funds in the bank accounts of the local government institutions created under the LG Act 2013 through the submission of cross cheques to the accounts created under the LG Act 2019.

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The spokesperson added that under the LG Act 2013, no transactions could be made through bank accounts anymore. It emerged that the provincial government will continue payments including salaries, pensions, bills, petrol and other expenditures to the LG institutions.

In another development today, Punjab Local Government Minister Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed chaired a session which was attended by LG secretary Noorul Ameen Mengal and other officials.

The participants of the session finalised the draft of the LG Act 2021 after getting a briefing from the LG secretary.

Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed said that the final draft of the new LG Act will be forwarded to the Punjab cabinet within three days. The LG Act 2021 will ensure the transition of powers to the grassroots level.

On October 26, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had said that the government was willing to hold fresh local bodies elections in the country and they would soon bring a new local government act in this regard.

“The new local bodies act will soon be passed from the provincial cabinet,” the chief minister had said.

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On October 20, the Punjab government had submitted a notification in the Supreme Court with regard to the restoration of local councils in the province.

A bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed had conducted the hearing of a case pertaining to the restoration of local bodies in Punjab.

In his remarks, the chief justice had also pointed out flaws in the drafting of the notification issued by the government of Punjab.