Opposition terms CDGK budget as illegal, threatens legal action

The opposition, rejecting the 2007-08 budget of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) as "illegal" and "unilateral," has threatened to take legal action against the CDGK. Saeed Ghani of Awam Dost panel and Rafique Ahmad of Al-Khidmat called a press conference soon after City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal presented the new budget here on Saturday.
They claimed that the new budget was not as per the rules and regulations and was, therefore, illegal in nature, adding that the opposition was completely kept in dark on the budget. They said the opposition would take up the issue in the Sindh High Court if it did not get its demands accepted, and demanded a three-day deliberations period to the budget debate.
Referring to various provisions of the Local Government Ordinance 2001 and Budget Rules, they said the CDGK had violated Section 28/2, which said the District Co-ordination Officer (DCO) needed to present the report on budget before the council.
They said article 11/1 was also breached as the budget was prepared without consulting all stakeholders, particularly the District Counsel Committee (DCC). They said the CDGK had never called the meetings of DCC.
The absence of copy of development projects, after the Budget and Development Committee's approval, in the council as per clause 34/7 revealed another violation by the CDGK, they pointed out. "Article 36/1 says any major change in the cost or design of development projects would be subject to an OK by the council, but the CDGK never cared for this," the opposition leaders said.
"As per article 44/7, all development projects are subject to the approval of the City Council separately," they said, claiming the city government never implemented this clause.
Referring to many other violations by the CDGK, the opposition leaders claimed that the armed men of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had attacked the offices of Nazims of union council 4 and 5 in Gadap Town.
The attackers beat up the staffers and burnt the records, they alleged They said last year Rs 9,550,000 were allocated for uplift projects in the UCs, but only 20 percent of the amount were spent in the opposition areas. They also criticised the City Nazim for using an informal language in the budget speech, and said the speech was politically motivated.