Local Government Acts 2013 and Province-Local Government Relations
The local government (LG) Acts e nacted by the provincial assemblies of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtnkh!a, Pn"ab and #indh differ from Pakistan$s previos e%perience !ith local governance in several !ays& Positive' The Acts !ere imposed neither by a military regime, nor by the federal government, and these have been drafted and adopted by the provincial assemblies after mch debate and !ith a sense of o!nership& egative' the LG Ac ts of *+ are fragmented, and appear to be driven by considerations of maintaining the stats -o, rather than establishing effective local governance arrangements throgh the devoltion of ade-ate political, fiscal and administrative po!er to local concils& Historical Overview
.ederalism' The /onstittion of Pakistan establishes the state as a federal parliamentary repblic, comprising for provinces' Pn"ab (01 million), #indh (2+& million), Balochistan (3&3 million) and Khyber Pakhtnkh!a (& million)& Administrative 4ivision' the contry is divided into 4istricts, Tehsils (sb5districts) (sb5districts) and 6nion /oncils, !ith each 6nion /oncil comprising a nmber of villages& 7o!ever, a niversally acceptable form of t he federation that garantees a balanced distribtion of po!er among the federating nits, inclding the local gover nments, remains an elsive goal& T!o factors have contribted to this& .irst, it !as not ntil +013 (++ years after Pakistan$s independence) that political leaders and parties agreed on a c onstittion, !hich !as sbse-ently amended t!ice& #econd, the military took the contry$s reins at several critical "nctres and e%perimented !ith varios forms of local government, primarily srrogates for a parliamentary form of democracy& Context and Key !estions
The revival of local governments contines to be debated, despite the fact that the +3th Amendment
to the /onstittion of Pakistan has made it mandatory& Article +2*(A) of the /onstittion e%plicitly states, 89ach Province shall, by la!, e stablish a local government system and devolve political, administrative, and financial responsibility and athority to the elected representatives of the local governments&8 :oreover, sb5clase of the same article stiplates that 89lection to the local governments shall be held by the 9lection /ommission of Pakistan&8 #ince the contry$s political transition in **3 and, particlarly, after the passage of the +3 th /onstittional Amendment, the follo!ing trends are visible& First , the provincial leaderships have rel!ctantly "assed t#e LG laws and taken steps to hold local elections&
Second , the provinces have sho!n a preference for, and a considerable degree of nanimity in,
restorin$ t#e Commissioner system, !hereby the provincial governments manage local government fnctions directly throgh the provincial breacracy, rather than co ntining !ith the devoltion reforms elected by the previos LG Act of **+& Third , demographic changes, and an nprecedented rate of !r%ani&ation' #ave made local
$overnments a necessity and not simply a choice& Fourth, there is $rowin$ awareness among civil society, media and policy analysts that local governments are a mst for efficient and accontable governance& Finally , a series of landmark decisions and persistent interventions %y t#e #i$#er (!diciary have made it impossible for the provincial governments to hold p the local government elections& These trends raise several -estions& ;hy have the provincial governments been relctant to revive the local governments< ;hat has cased the retrn to the /ommissionerate system< ;hy do three provinces still lack a political consenss on the main characteristics of the LG la!s< ;hat can be done to ensre that the revival of the LG Acts improves governance, service delivery and citi=ens$ participation at the local level< >n the follo!ing pages, > !ill address some o f these -estions&
)asic *emocracies Order 1+,+
>n +013, the military assmed po!er and chose to install local governments throgh the B asic 4emocracies ?rder (+010)& The m ilitary rlers fond politics divisive and cmbersome and responded to demands for $provincial atonomy$ throgh centralisation, !hile seeking legitimacy throgh local governments& The Basic 4emands system !as cre ated as a sbstitte for niversal sffrage and served as an electoral college to elect the president and the legislative assemblies& >n rban areas (to!ns !ith a poplation of less than +2,***), it created :nicipal /ommittees (:/s) and 6nion /ommittees (6/s), designed to perform @ fnctions ranging from social !elfare to health and infrastrctre& The :/s had limited ta%ation po!ers and cold levy t a%es on vehicles and trade, !hereas the 6/ had no fiscal po!ers& 9ach 6/ had 5+* elected members and its chairman !as elected as an e%5officio member of the :/& The chairman of the :/ !as appointed by the provincial government or by the /ommissioner&
>n rral areas, the first tier of government !as the 6nion /oncil (6/) that consisted of a grop of villages and performed @ fnctions& 9ach 6/ elec ted a chairman from amongst its members !ho also served as a member of the Tehsil (sb5 district ) /oncil (T/)& The T/ had no e %ective fnctions or ta%ation po!ers, and its prpose !as to c oordinate the activities of 6/s nder its "risdiction& The ne%t level !as the 4istrict /oncil (4/), t he electoral college of !hich inclded chairmen of all 6/s, T/s and :/s, removing the distinction bet!een rban and rral ar eas& The 4/ had 3 obligatory and @* optional fnctions, as !ell as the po!er to levy ta%es& >ts basic prpose !as to coordinate the activities of all the concils and committees nder its "risdiction&
Local Government Orders 1++ and 1+.+
#bse-ent military regimes (+005@+ and +0@@533), adopted the same model of promoting local government !hile maintaining centralised control at the federal level& Ths, rather than a federal principle, the local government came to be identified !ith the military regimes as an instrment of delegitimising the party system and provincial atonomy, !hile trivialising political processes and po!er sharing at mltiple levels (federal, provincial and local)&
The Local Government ?rder +0@0 e%panded the local governments and empo!ered the 4 epty /ommissioners& This ordinance created four levels of municipal government in the urban areas' To!n /ommittees, :nicipal /ommittees, :nicipal /orporations and :etropolitan /orporations& :embers of each concil elect the senior officers of these concils and the controlling athority is the e lected hose. In the rural areas the system provided for a three-tier system of local government, !here 6nion /oncils, Tehsil or Talka /oncils and 4istrict /oncils came into e%istence& The chairmen of these concils !ere elected by the members& Local Government Ordinance 2001
/#e Local Government Ordinance LGO 2001 removed t#e !r%an-r!ral divide and esta%lis#ed local $overnment at t#ree levels ' 6nion /oncil, TehsilTalka /oncil and 4istrict /oncil levels& The 6nion !as the basic nit and the 6nion a=ims (mayor)and aib (depty) a=ims, directly elected by the voters, became members of the 4istrict and Tehsil /oncils, respectively& The LGO did not establish any hierarchical relationship between the local and provincial governments but networ!ed the former with the "ational #econstruction $ureau and the %resident&s office.
>t devolved administrative, financial and development po!ers to the electe d officials in the local concils and all the government departments became ac contable to the 4istrict /oncil& The 'eputy
(ommissioners were re-designated as 'istrict (oordination Officers and subordinated to the 'istrict "a)im for e*ecutive approvals performance evaluations and transfers+postings & The role
of police oversight by the 4epty /ommissioners !as abolished and the district police chiefs became directly accontable to the 4istrict a=ims&
The LG? changed the political and social landscape by bringing more than +1*,*** people into the political arena and creating more than ,*** concils& According to one report, 3 percent of the ne!ly elected concillors reported that they had never contested an election, nor had anyone from their family& Another important featre of the LG? **+ !as its allocation of reserved seats for !omen ( percent), minorities, professionals and peasants, althogh !omen$s participation !as constrained in some parts of the contry by the local "irgas, tribal leaders, and biradaries&
.inally, the LG? provided for several forms, sch as 4istrict :onitoring /ommittees, to oversee the !ork of government departments, /iti=ens /ommnity Boards to allo! direct citi=en participation in designing and overseeing development schemes, :salehat5e5An"mans (consltative bodies) for alternate dispte resoltion, and /iti=en Police Liaison /ommittees for promoting rle of la! and protection of rights& ilitary and Civil ervice 4nvolvement in Local Governments
The military regimes in Pakistan have generally favored reliance o n local government for at least three reasons' first political e%clsion of the incmbents by changing the r les of the gameC second alliance !ith the breacracy to m anage the centralised and hierarchical strctresC and, third creating a political elite by introdcing ne! politicians throgh the local government la!s& Breacracy and Local Government The impact of the three local government la!s and elections has been different and nanced& The B4 +010 revived and consolidated the prestigios /ivil #ervice of Pakistan (/#P), !hereby the 4istrict and the 4epty /ommissioners became the lynchpins of the r egime and prsed politics of patronage and the development goals of the regime&
6nder the military regime of .ield :arshal Ayb Khan (+01350), the military governed and the /# P rled& That also led to the creation of a ne! set of political elites, !ho became members of the 3*,***5 strong B4 system (later raised to an electoral college of +*,***)& 7o!ever, !ith the do!nfall of the military regime, the /#P also came nder criticism& The +00 mass movement and protests also tarnished the glory and image of the breacracy in general, bt particlarly the /#P&
The /ivil #ervices Deforms of +0@ nder Prime :inister Elfikar Ali Bhtto (+0@+5@@) frther ero ded the po!er and prestige of the /#P , !ho !ere no! labelled as t he 4istrict :anagement Grop (4:G)&
General Eia5l57a-, !ho assmed po!er by dismissing the government of Elfikar Ali Bhtto in Fly +0@@, soght legitimacy again throgh the Local Government ?rdinance +0@0& The regime revitalised the districts, !hile delegitimising politics at the national and provincial levels, and resscitated local government (elections !ere held in +0@0, +03 and +03@)& 4ring this period, the /#P and the 4:G !ere able to rehabilitate their positions both in the policy arena and in the districts&
;hen General :sharraf sei=ed po!er in ?ctober +000, the military regime soght the international commnity$s spport by promising a retrn to democracy, improved governance, and reforms in the social and economic sectors& The local government plan emphasised the +0@ /onstittion by invoking the separation of the e%ective and "diciary& >t soght to redce the role of the /#P, particlarly the 4:G, by restrctring the civil serv ice at the district level and sbordinating it to the elected representatives&
The offices of 4ivision /ommissioner and 4istrict /ommissioner (4/) !ere abolished and their roles and fnctions !ere distribted to the 4istrict Government headed by the elected mayor (a=im) and inclding a 4istrict /oordination ?fficer ,'(O who reported to the "a)im& The magisterial po!ers of the 4/ !ere !ithdra!n and given to the "diciary and police& The role o f police oversight formerly held by the 4/ !as abolished and the re sponsibility of la! and order !as entrsted to the a=ims&
Analysis O5 Local Governments Acts O5 2013
>n accordance !ith the +3th Amendment to the /onstittion, the provincial assembly of Balochistan passed the LG Act in *+*, !hereas the provincial assemblies of Pn"ab, #indh and Khyber Pak htnkh!a passed their LG Acts in *+& 4espite a lack of e nthsiasm, and de consltation dring the formlation stage, the passage of the LG Acts is a significant milestone&
7o!ever, the credibility of these la!s is affected by the fact that certain parts of the LG Acts of Pn"ab, #indh and Khyber Pakhtnkh!a have been challenged by the o pposition parties in varios corts& ?ne striking featre of all for LG Ac ts, in comparison !ith the LG? **+, is that none of the Acts devolves sfficient fnctions and po!ers to the local governments, and all for provincial governments have
retained the athority to sspend or remove the heads of an elected local government& The
fnctioning of the Local Government .nd is managed by the .inance 4epartment and .inance :inister of the province& tr!ct!re and Constit!ency *elimitation
All for LG Acts provide for loc al government elections on a party basis& Pn"ab, #indh and Balochistan !ill have 6nion /oncils and 4istrict /oncils in the rral areas and 6nion /oncils/ommittees and :nicipal /ommittees in the rban areas& The Khyber Pakhtnkh!a LG Act also provides for Tehsil /oncils and illage /oncils in the rral areas and eighborhood /oncils in the rban areas&
/onstitency delimitation and maintaining territorial nity are critical isses in electoral politics, and this process can be sed for gerrymandering& The LG Acts of Pn"ab, #indh and Khyber Pakhtnkh!a allo! for discretion by the provincial government to change, e%clde, inclde and redesign a constitency&
The Pn"ab and #indh LG Acts emphasise the preservation of a 6nion /oncil$s territorial integrity as far as possible, that the poplation of a 6/ in a 4istrict shold be niform, and that a 6/ shold not cross the bondaries of a Devene Talka&
The Balochistan LG Act athorises the provincial government to define and delimit the nmber of !ards& The Khyber Pakhtnkh!a LG Act also provides for a 4elimitation Athority, !hich bodes !ell for the local governments provided the composition and membership is balanced and allo!s broader representation and participation&
7o!ever, the delimitation of constitencies carried ot nder the aspices of the #indh and Pn"ab governments has been recently declared illegal follo!ing "dgments handed do!n by the #indh and Lahore 7igh /orts, respectively&
/erm Limits And t#e 6lectoral Process
The LG Acts of *+ are not consistent on the term limits of the local governments& Pn"ab provides for a term of five years, #indh and Balochistan of for years, and
Khyber Pakhtnkh!a of three years The electoral process also varies across provinces& Pn"ab provides for direct elections for the posts of /hairmen and ice5/hairmen of the 6nion /oncils, !hereas #indh envisages indirect election of /hairman and ice5/hairman of 6nion /oncil from a panel of nine /oncillors elected to the general and reserved seats& (This is a good sign that every province is atonomos to take decisions on its o!n)& >n both Pn"ab and #indh, the heads of 4istrict /oncils !ill be chosen indirectly throgh an electoral college comprising all members of the respective concil&
Khyber Pakhtnkh!a provides for direct elections of members for all seats (reserved and non5reserved) in the illage and eighborhood /oncils& >n Khyber Pakhtnkh!a, the reserved seats for !omen, peasants, yoth and minorities !ill be filled throgh "ro"ortional re"resentation by the political parties on the basis of the nmber of seats !on& 7iscal *evol!tion All 5o!r LG Acts "rovide 5or t#e esta%lis#ment o5 Provincial 7inance Commissions P7C, headed by the
provincial .inance :inisters& The local concils !old receive allocations throgh the respect ive Provincial .inance /ommission A!ards, and !old have limited po!ers to impose ta%es or e%ercise reglatory fnctions& The Khyber Pakhtnkh!a Act provides greater fiscal atonomy to the local government, as it empo!ers illage and eighborhood /oncils to spervise all local government fnctionaries inclding revene officials in their "risdiction& All for LG Acts r e-ire adits of the local concils by the ?ffice of the Aditor General& Relations %etween Local and Provincial Governments
The LG Acts of all for provinces tend to sbordinate the local governments to the provincial governments& They allo! the /hief :inisters to dismiss a local government or head of concil and appoint officeholders after the dismissal of concil heads& >n Pn"ab, t he government can sspend local 3 government officials for 0* days, in #indh for months, and in Khyber Pakhtnkh!a and Balochistan for * days& 4ring and after this period the dismissed officials can file revie! petitions to t he provincial governments& The Pn"ab and Balochistan LG Acts state t hat the 4istrict /oncils !ill fnction nder the directives of the provincial government, giving the provincial government leverage over the local governments& The Khyber Pakhtnkh!a and #indh Acts give greater atonomy to the provincial governments to spervise and inspect local governments&
8#ile all t#e LG Acts devolve t#e 9ey service delivery 5!nctions to local $overnments' "rovinces #ave made exce"tions to retain lar$e entities sch as the Karachi ;ater and #e!erage Board, #indh Bilding
/ontrol Athority, Lahore 4evelopment Athority (L4A), and #olid ;aste :anagement (#;:), etc
The LG Act of Pn"ab provides for the creation of edcation and health athorities, comprising members from the provincial government, local governments, technocrats and the private sector& The /hief :inister !ill be the appointing athority and can dismiss the heads of the athority or dissolve the athorities& Cons!ltation' Ar%itration And Con5lict Resol!tion 6ac# o5 t#e 5o!r LG Acts "rovide 5or t#e esta%lis#ment o5 Local Government Commissions LGC,
headed by the provincial :inister for Local Government and inclding members from the provincial assembly, breacracy and technocrats& >n Balochistan the commission is named the 4ivisional /oordination /ommittee& The LG/s perform inspections, social adits and dispte re soltion for concils and sbmit reports and recommendations to the provincial government&
All 5o!r "rovinces a!t#orise t#e :nion' ;illa$e and
(assembly chosen by the local commnity) in rral areas and :salehat5e5An"man in rban areas, inclding t!o !omen members nominated by the provincial government& Balochistan allo!s for three5 member :salehate5 An"mans in both rral and rban areas& Khyber Pakhtnkh!a allo!s 6nion, To!n, Tehsil and 4istrict concils to establish complaint cells to address citi=ens$ grievances&
4n P!n(a%' ind# and )aloc#istan' t#e "olice are not !nder t#e l ocal $overnment, !hereas in Khyber
Pakhtnkh!a the illage and eighborhood /oncils have po!ers to spervise the police and make recommendations to the district government&
Concl!din$ /#o!$#ts
The LG Acts for each province, in their crrent form, provide limited atonomy to the local concils in terms of fiscal management and control over service delivery, revene, ta% and police departments& >f the local elections are to have any real meaning, provincial governments !ill need to ensre that ne!ly elected local concils have sfficient resorces and athority to address service delivery and development challenges in local commnities& This !ill re-ire provincial governments to recalibrate their approach to!ards the third tier of government& At present their instincts seem to be to $centralise$
for the prposes of political e%pediency, rather t han acting in the tre spirit of t he +3th amendment and empo!ering local government strctres&
.or a strong federation to !ork, the provincial assemblies mst recogni=e that atonomos local governments are essential for improved governance and ser vice delivery, bt they also need to create la!s that better clarify the division of po!er and fnctions bet!een the provincial and local governments&
>t is hoped that the LG Acts !ill evolve over time as the local governments come into being and the province5local government relations play ot and attain a ne! balance of po!er& The federal government shold e%plore spporting inter5provincial coordination and e%perience sharing to define giding principles for local government reform& #ch an initiative !old lend greater legitimacy to local government and strengthen the federation&
;ith the advent of local governments, there also is a need to pt civil service reform back on the agenda& The provinces cold, for e%ample, consider t he establishment of the 4istrict /adre #ervice and strengthen the Provincial Pblic #ervice /ommissions&
.inally, the role of the 9lection /ommission of Pakistan and the higher "diciary in pholding the spirit of the /onstittion bodes !ell for the credibility and continity of local governments& The complementary role played by civil society, academia, media and bsiness grops !ill also raise the level of a!areness abot the necessity of local government for improving governance& Local governments !old remove the provincialism& People !ill get a greater sense of participation& 9%ample of Kerala is in front of s& e! leaders !old emerge on the political landscape of the contry& Tolerance !old increase among different fragments of t he society, as minorities and !omen !old !ork !ith other ma"ority commnities& The attitde of breacracy can be tamed this !ay&
