SC on Punjab LG Ordinance
In a rare case of extreme censure, the Supreme Court (SC) has come down heavily on Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar for promulgating the Punjab Local Government Ordinance (Amendment) 2021 on February 3, 2021, just one day after the prorogation of the provincial Assembly. Justice Qazi Faez Isa, heading a two-member bench hearing a set of petitions on the local government (LG) system, asked whether the Punjab legislature was incompetent or the Governor wiser than 374 Punjab MPAs. The court was visibly perturbed over a number of changes in the earlier LG law by the Ordinance. Further, that the Ordinance had interrupted the plan of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold LG elections in Punjab in three phases – June 20, July 17, and August 8, 2021 – and that of cantonment boards from April 8-May 29, 2021. The ECP counsel told the court that the Ordinance was issued without taking the ECP into confidence, a claim contested by Punjab Additional Advocate General Qasim Chohan. Noteworthy about the timing of the Ordinance, apart from being promulgated just one day after the Punjab Assembly was prorogued, is the fact the SC was scheduled to take up the matter on February 4, 2021, i.e. just one day after the Ordinance saw the light of day! Justice Isa wanted to know what extraordinary circumstances necessitated the issuance of the Ordinance by bypassing the Punjab Assembly. The SC also wanted to know if the Ordinance had been approved by the Punjab cabinet. In its order, the SC regretted the issuance of the Ordinance in clear violation of the Constitution just one day after the prorogation of the Punjab Assembly, implying it was ready in the pocket of the provincial government. The SC saw this as a clear case of mala fide intentions. As a result of the premature dissolution of Punjab’s LGs before they had completed their constitutional tenure ending on December 31, 2021, the bureaucracy was running the affairs of the LGs, thereby disenfranchising the 120 million people of Punjab. The SC was also unhappy at the adjournment of the February 17, 2021 meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) to approve or disapprove the 2017 census results, without which the delimitation of LG constituencies could not be carried out. The 2017 census has become controversial because certain parties, particularly the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Sindh, have objected to alleged under-counting of people in certain areas. The court was then informed that the next CCI meeting was scheduled for March 24, 2021. In passing, it may be noted that the SC Registrar too came in for some stick for failing to fix important cases such as this one as early as possible.
This whole sorry saga is rooted in political rivalry and the marked reluctance of our elected governments to devolve power down to the third tier of the democratic structure. Whereas military dictators in our history have been prone to favouring LGs as an alternative political support base that bypasses the traditional constituencies of the political parties, elected governments have kept LG affairs close to their chest to avoid what they perceive as a possible dilution of their support base amongst the people. What these attitudes belie is the constitutional requirement to have a complete, three-tier structure for the democratic set-up, with LGs representing the first rung of this ladder. The importance of LGs is undeniable, since they are closer to communities at the local level and therefore better placed to deliver services to the people. In their absence, and with the LGs in the hands of the bureaucracy, the hapless citizen has to run from pillar to post even to get the simplest tasks carried out. In the instant case of the Punjab LGs, the mala fide intent is floating on the surface. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) coalition government did not want the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-dominated LGs to live out their term as this would prevent the ruling coalition’s plans to dominate the political landscape in Punjab. The premature dissolution was carried out under the Punjab Local Government Act 2019. Arguably, this too was ultra vires of the Constitution. But then constitutional niceties and adherence have been the exception rather than the rule in our hurly burly politics of ‘anything goes’.
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