LAHORE: A day after the province’s local government system was disbanded, the Punjab government approved the appointment of deputy commissioners as administrators rather than delegating the job to commissioners.
Chief Minister of Punjab Usman Buzdar gave his permission after reviewing a summary furnished by the local government department. The commissioners will only have a supervisory role in the province after the approval.
Furthermore, the administrators of 247 union councils will be delegated to the deputy directors of local government.
The deputy commissioners, rather than the commissioners, will be given powers in the new setup.
According to sources, the provincial cabinet committee has suggested placing deputy commissioners as administrators in 36 districts.
In contrast to 2019, when commissioners were charged as administrators following the abolition of local government, the Punjab government has the right to use its powers and appoint DCs as district administrators.
After the provincial administration submitted a notification to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the local government system in Punjab was reinstated in October of this year.
Fawad Chaudhry, the Punjab province’s information minister, had declared that local body elections would take place in March 2022.
