Executive encroaching judiciary’s domain: Daniyal

As the controversy over the local government and commissioner systems has developed into a political controversy, Daniyal Aziz, the former chairman of the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) and one of the main architects of the local government system introduced in the country in 2001, urged the superior judiciary to take notice of the encroachment by the executive into its domain by delegating the magisterial powers to the deputy commissioners.
In an exclusive interview with Pakistan Today, Daniyal said it was surprising that despite petitions filed in the apex court and all the four high courts against, what he called, the unconstitutional acts of the provincial governments, no action had yet been taken by the judiciary which, he said, was surprising given the fact that suo moto notices were being taken over recovering even two bottles of liquor from a woman.
“Though the government of the day is centralising the local government system contrary to the spirit of the constitution, which calls for devolution of the powers at the grassroots level, it seems that there is some unholy tryst between the executive and judicial branches,” remarked Aziz.
Citing the restoration of the commissioner system in Balochistan, Aziz said the provincial government had given judicial powers to the District Management Group (DMG) officers by amending the criminal procedure code which was a federal subject, which was a breach of the constitution and against the idea of separation of judiciary from executive.
He said a deputy commissioner was an unelected person and a part of the executive but was given magisterial powers under the commissioner system which was against the spirit of the constitution.
“Moreover, this is also against provincial autonomy to rule through DDO(Rs) which are representing the federal government. In the district government system, DDO(Rs) had no powers but now they have been given full powers which is undermining the provincial autonomy,” he claimed. He added that the under the constitution, the Election Commission of Pakistan was given responsibility to hold local bodies’ elections. However, he asserted that in case of the act promulgated by the Balochistan government, elections of local government were to be held by the provincial election commission which was also a violation of the constitution and the same has also been challenged in the respective high court but the case had not been taken up by the court yet.
He said if the courts did not take action, the concept of independence of judiciary would remain restricted to the Supreme Court and the high courts where common man had no access. If the judiciary would take up ‘personalised agenda’, it would come under pressure from the executive, he asserted, and said that due to the public pressure, the politicians were compelled to restore the local government system in Sindh but unfortunately the judiciary was still silent.
“It is the high time for implementation of the Law Reforms Ordinance 1972 as it stood in 1972 and only then it could provide the requisite of separation of judiciary from executive under the constitution. The role of judiciary is a key factor to reform a country but surprisingly the acts of provincial governments are undermining the judicial independence,” Daniyal said.
Responding to a question, Daniyal, who is also the author of the principal document of the local government system introduced by the government of General (r) Pervez Musharraf, said the idea of devolution of powers and establishing local governments was aimed at building a society providing an enabling environment.
“The commissioner system was introduced by the British Raj who were alien to the subcontinent and wanted to rule the people against their will. However, things have changed over the years and with the changing world, this system cannot function more. You see, the public sector enterprises, including PIA, Railways and the Steel Mills are collapsing, and there are no more room for permanent jobs which is a natural end due to political manoeuvrings over the years which is bringing the system down. The culture of seeking jobs on political basis has to be changed,” he added.
He said unfortunately, the leadership of the so-called democratic parties, which were otherwise based on fiefdoms and only preferred family’s loyalty, wanted to run the system on older model which was impossible now. “Despite the writing on the wall, these so-called democrats want all DCOs and SPs to hover around either the Bilawal House or the Raiwind Palace,” he said, adding that the politicians and bureaucracy were in an unholy alliance. Asked whether the flaws in the NRB’s local government model had been removed as there was overlapping and confusion in the system, Daniyal nodded in affirmation and said those flaws were there since it was a new system.
“Yes, there were flaws but most of those had been removed before the local body polls held in year 2005. For instance, councils could not properly hold the district government accountable. But still there is a room for improvement. Initially, it was believed that the sense of deprivation would be redressed with the devolution of powers from centre to provinces. However, it could not be done as the provincial governments did not distribute resources judiciously to all areas in the province,” he said.
He said the appointment of district ombudsman was also important for proper accountability of district governments and for addressing the people’s problems while the public-police safety commissions were necessary to get rid of the crimes.
“We want that the Punjab chief minister should also proceed for accountability against those nazims declared corrupt by him after an audit by a private firm. We think that these audits are being withheld for tail-twisting of politicians so as they could fall in line with the governments pressure which is unacceptable,” he added.
“We feared that the provincial governments would not be able to distribute the resources judiciously and for the same reason, provincial finance commission had been established. Now in order to redress the grievances of people at the grassroots, you would have to devolve powers to the union council level to avoid concentration of resources at one place and ensure devolution of powers to the people’s doorsteps because the local government system success is political empowerment,” he added. He said almost all the successes of the local government system had gone down the drain due to the political interference. When asked to elaborate his point, Daniyal said under the district government system, the teacher-student ratio had been defined. Teachers had been sent to the far-flung areas where no one had ever been posted in the past.
However, he said, with the return of the old political influence, all teachers had been brought back to schools in the urban areas and the students in towns and villages were left without good teachers. “Today, there is no empowerment of the locals, no budget sessions are being held in districts, towns and villages. No accountability is taking place and all the DMGs are ruling the people again in connivance with the political elites of the area,” he added.