Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The appointment of the first elected Mayor of Islamabad, Shaikh Ansar Aziz, as Chairman CDA has a lot of legal anomalies as there is no precedent of such a decision in the past history of the civic body; whereas, the appointment also has come under a clash of interests according to the clause “e” of the sub section 8 of CDA Ordinance 1960.

The federal government on Tuesday appointed the first elected Mayor of Islamabad as the Chairman CDA by exercising the powers granted under sub section 1 and 2 of section 6.

According to sub section 1, the federal government can appoint CDA board members which shall not be less then three; whereas, in sub section 2 it is stated that the federal government shall appoint a Chairman, a Vice Chairman and a Financial Advisor from amongst the members.

Although, the sitting government played its cards quite wisely and appointed the mayor as Chairman CDA by picking and choosing specific sections, which are serving its purpose, but at the same time, the government ignored the important section-8, which is regarding disqualification of the members of the CDA board.

The clause “e” of the section-8 clearly states; “No person shall be or shall continue to be a member who has a financial interest in any scheme or a conflicting interest directly or indirectly between his interests as a member and his private interests and has failed to disclose such an interest in writing to the federal government.”

To put it simple the CDA ordinance restricts anyone from becoming a member, who has a clash of interests with the interests of the civic body.

It is no secret that the devolution process of assets and employees is under way and a tug of war between the CDA and the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad is prevailing.

In fact, the mayor is the permanent head of the MCI and his appointment as Chairman CDA means that there is nobody left behind, who will protect or defend the rights of the CDA.

The second legal question is the silence of the CDA Ordinance over the wide space for the federal government while appointing board members as there is no specific qualification mentioned in the law in this regard, which means that the government can appoint anybody whom it feels fit for the job as it had done in the case of Shaikh Ansar Aziz.

A legal expert having a good knowledge of the CDA ordinance, while endorsing the point that the mayor is disqualified to become a member according to the clause ‘e’ of the section-8 has added; “the mayor can also not become a member of the CDA board according to the clause “f” of section-8 and section 26 of the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act 2013.”

He simplified it by saying: “As per the clause “f “, if any person is disqualified from the membership of the National Assembly, the Provincial Assembly and the Senate is also disqualified for the membership of the CDA board; whereas, according to section 26 of the Local Government Act, the mayor is ineligible to contest any other election without resigning his current position, furthermore, he is also barred from holding dual offices simultaneously.”

He said according to the aforementioned sections, Shaikh Ansar Aziz is not legally fit for the post of Chairman CDA and the process to appoint him is misappropriate.”

Although, the strengthening of the local government institutions is the base of a strong democracy in the country, but such irrational decisions pose a serious threat to both; the establishment of a strong MCI, and the already established structure of the CDA.