KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday served notice on the Sindh government on a petition moved by Jamaat-i-Islami to challenge the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act, 2021.
The petition was moved by the party’s Karachi president Hafiz Naeem ur-Rehman, maintaining the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has concentrated virtually all municipal powers with the provincial government, leaving the elected local bodies largely toothless and the cities, particularly Karachi, in an utter mess.
The high court ordered the provincial government to submit its response in the next hearing of the case before adjourning further proceedings for an indefinite period of time.
The petitioner requested that the bill — passed on December 11 — was “illegal and in blatant violation of Article 140-A of the Constitution”.
Rehman in the petition requested the SHC to declare the new amendments in the bill as unconstitutional and void.
It merits a mention here the JI has been protesting against the local government bill in front of the Sindh Assembly in Karachi for the last two weeks.
The House had passed the amendment bill aimed at setting up a new local government regime with a majority amid the strong protest from the opposition.
The bill also sought to give powers to the mayor to head Solid Waste Management Board. It is important to mention here Governor Imran Ismail had rejected the bill over apparent disempowerment of urban provincial towns.
