Khudayar Mohla –
Senior Judge of the Lahore High Court Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh will take up petition of PML-N on Friday as a leader of the party has challenged recently passed Punjab Local Government Act 2019.
Son of PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal who is the Chairman of District Council Narowal, Ahmad Iqbal has made Province of Punjab, Secretary, Local Government & Community Development Department Punjab, Secretary, Law Department, Government of Punjab and Election Commission of Pakistan through its Secretary as respondents in the matter.
Counsels for the petitioner, Umer Gillani and Usama Khawar Ghumman filed the petition in Lahore High Court Lahore on Thursday.
Ahmad Iqbal Chaudhary has urged the Lahore High Court to intervene to protect the tenure of around 58,000 local government official who have been de-seated by Section 3 of the new local government law.
The central argument Chaudhary raised in his petition, available with TLTP that after the insertion of Article 140A in the Constitution, local governments have attained the status of an independent tier of the federation. The petitioner said, “This is because Article 140A uses the term “local government” instead of the term “local bodies” used in earlier legislation”.
Chaudhary has mentioned even that the Election Commission’s notification whereby he assumed office states that it has been issued in pursuance of the Constitution.
Ahmad has contended in the plea that he has a legitimate and constitutional entitlement to complete the 5-year term of office guaranteed under Section 30 of the Punjab Local Government Act, 2013 saying, “Since his tenure started in 2nd January 2017, it should continue until 2nd January, 2022”.
The petitioner has urged the Court to allow existing local government to continue in office until the completion of their statutory tenure, wheareafter the new law may take effect. He also urged the court to issue a temporary injunction restrain the government from appointing bureaucrats as administrators.
