PESHAWAR, May 8: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Bill, 2012, bringing down the curtain on the local government system introduced over a decade ago by the then military ruler, Pervez Musharraf.

The bill provides for creation of local councils, including a municipal corporation for Peshawar, a municipal committee for every city or town other than Peshawar, a union council, and a district council for every district in the province.

It also empowers the provincial government to appoint one or more magistrate, or authorise any officers to exercise power of the magistrate for trial of offenders.

The provincial government had dissolved the elected councils on February 20, 2010, and replaced elected nazims with administrators. Later, the current bill was tabled in the assembly on March 25, 2010, and was referred to a select committee of the assembly, which gave its recommendations recently.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Bill, 2012, was presented on Tuesday by senior minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour. It was passed by the house unanimously without much debate.

The new law provides for repealing the Local Government Ordinance 2001, which was promulgated by the then provincial governor when identical local government laws prepared by the National Reconstruction Bureau were introduced in all four provinces.

According to the new law, election of members of all union councils and municipal committees should be held on the basis of adult franchise and joint electorate through secret ballot. The government has been empowered to divide a local area into such number of wards having a definite boundary as it may determine. A union will be a multi-member ward for election of member of union council.

Under it, a union council will comprise 11 members, including seven Muslim general members, two women members, one member each for peasant and worker and minority communities. A district council consists of such number of general members as total number of union councils in the district and chairman of each union council will be general member of the concerned district council. The chairman and vice chairman of the district council will be elected by members of the district council.

Also, the municipal corporation will consist of such number of general members as total number of union councils falling with in the limit of the corporation. The chairman of an urban union council in the limit of corporation should be a member of the corporation.

For the first time, seats will be reserved for technocrats in local councils as the bill provides five per cent seats reserved for them in the local councils except the union council. Apart from seats for technocrats the new law provides 10 per cent seats reserved for women; and five percent each for peasant/worker and minorities in the local councils except for union council.

The law empowers the government to notify the number of members in a municipal committee. The member of the municipal committee will be elected through direct election based on adult franchise and joint electorate.

Under the new law, a local council in its first meeting and to the exclusion of any other business will elect from its members a chairman, vice-chairman, mayor and deputy mayor in the prescribed manner.

According to the new law, there will be constituted a Musallihati Jirga in every union council and every ward of the urban council for amicable settlement of disputes amongst the people through mediation, conciliation and arbitration. The government will prescribe the composition, qualifications, processes, procedure and terms of office for Musalihati Jirga.

Every local council may establish and promote community based organizations, representing cross section of society to facilitate public participation in the functions of local councils.

The term of office of a local council will be four years commencing on the date on which it holds its first meeting. Provided that on the expiry of the term of  office of a local council, government may appoint any person for the interim period to perform such function of the local council as may be specified.

Under the new law, the government may, after giving him an opportunity of being heard, remove a chairman, vice chairman, mayor and deputy mayor or a member from office if he remained absents without reasonable cause from three consecutive meetings of the local council, or is guilty of abuse of power or misconduct or mal-administration or refuses to take oath under Section 31.