PTI challenges Punjab’s new local government law in LHC
‘Threatens the ideals of democracy’
LAHORE: Punjab Assembly lawmakers affiliated with the opposition party PTI filed a petition in the Lahore High Court on Tuesday, seeking the declaration of several provisions related to the recently promulgated Punjab Local Government Act (PLGA) 2025 as ultra vires to the Constitution.
Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Muhammad Moeenuddin Riaz, Hafiz Farhat Abbas and Ali Imtiaz filed the petition against the legislation that was bulldozed through the assembly last month amid the opposition’s protest. The Punjab government has been named as a respondent in the plea, and Justice Sultan Tanvir will hear this petition, according to lawyer Abuzar Salman Niazi.
The petition says that Sections 15, 32, 25, 40, 55, 56 and 57 of the Act are “unconstitutional, unreasonable [and] illegitimate”. These provisions “brazenly and patently contravene” Articles 8 (laws inconsistent with or in derogation of fundamental rights to be void), 9 (security of person), 17 (freedom of association), 32 (promotion of local government institutions) and 140-A (local government) of the Constitution, the petition further states.
The petitioners contend that “a careful reading of the PLGA, 2025, makes it crystal clear that the same is a restrictive law aimed at curtailing and limiting the powers of elected representatives of the local governments”.
“Furthermore, it also undermines the genuine political process as it limits political choices of the voters. It mandates elections on non-party basis, which [is] tantamount to violating the most basic political freedoms enunciated in the Constitution,” the petition reads.
It says, “This newly elected law, which effectively introduced the systematic elimination of political choice, threatens the ideals of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice as enunciated by Islam”.
Moreover, the law also “violates the freedom of association and the right to life and dignity”, the petition says, adding, “Such a legal arrangement disenfranchises the people by censoring the spectrum of their choice. This will lead people to feel alienated and marginalised.”
The petitioners have moved the court to declare Sections 15, 32, 25, 40, 55, 56 and 57 of the Act “ultra vires to the Constitution in terms of Article 8 […], being inconsistent with and in derogation of fundamental rights provided under Article 9 and 17 and also in direct conflict with Article 140-A of the Constitution”. The petitioners have also requested the court to suspend the operation of the above-mentioned sections of the PLGA, 2025, during the pendency of the plea. Monitoring Desk
