RAWALPINDI, Aug 4: Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench here on Monday suspended the notification of the Punjab government about the dismissal of three assistant district public prosecutors and sought comments of the respondents till the final outcome of the petition.

The court also put off the hearing till August 29.The respondents in the case are the secretaries of Law and Justice Department and Punjab Prosecution Department, as well as the district public prosecutor, Jhelum.

Justice Khalil Ahmed of the LHC, while hearing the petition of three assistant district public prosecutors, Zahooruddin Shah, Tahir Abbas and Mohammad Azam, suspended the July 25 order of the prosecution department regarding termination of services of the prosecutors.

Terming the step of the provincial government as politically motivated, the petitioners said their services were terminated without following the laid criteria and serving any show cause notice on them. They said the petitioners were not provided an opportunity of hearing before the passing of the impugned order which was in violation of the principal of natural justice.

The LHC had already suspended a similar notification about the dismissal of 17 prosecutors in Rawalpindi district and the case would be taken up on August 29.

Meanwhile the court put off the hearing in the petition of district nazim, challenging the decision of the Punjab government about the ban on development budget till August 25 after assistant advocate general (AAG) sough more time to file comments. Justice Khalil Ahmed of the LHC adjourned the hearing after A.A.G. Qazi Amin submitted that he could not get the comments of the respondents about the provincial government’s decision of stopping the local governments from passing their development budgets.

The decision was termed by the petitioners unlawful interference of the Punjab government in the administrative affairs of local governments. The court in its July 23 interim order barred the provincial government from interfering in the matters of the local governments.

The petitioners’ lawyer, Tanveer Iqbal, asked the court to provide interim relief to his clients till a final decision in the case. The court sustained its previous interim order till the next hearing date.

The petitioners -- Rawalpindi District Nazim Raja Javed Ikhlas, Naib Nazim Mohammad Afzal Khokhar, Murree Town Nazim Sardar Mohammad Saleem Khan, Taxila Nazim Mohammad Siddique Khan, Kallar Syedan Nazim Sohail Ashraf, Potohar Town Nazim Hamid Nawaz Raja, Kotlian Sattian Nazim Raja Shehzad Nemat Satti and Kahuta Nazim Tariq Mehmood Murtaza -- making the Punjab government respondent through the secretary local government and community development and district coordination officer (DCO) stated before the court that the annual budget of the local governments for the year 2008-09 was required to be approved under the law before the commencement of next financial year.

But all of a sudden the provincial government, contrary to the provisions of LGO 2001 and Budget Rules, issued a letter to the DCO Rawalpindi and town municipal officers of Rawalpindi district with the directions that the tehsil municipal administrations must get clearance of the development proposals from the district coordination officer/district development committee.

The petitioners have claimed that these directions are in clear violation of the LGO and the constitutional provisions pertaining to the local government system. They had prayed to the court to direct the provincial governments to remain within four corners of the law and do not cause any harassment and unlawful interference in any manner within the smooth functioning of the district governments.

In another petition Justice Khalil Ahmad also put off the hearing till August 25 as the district nazim, naib nazim with eight town nazims had challenged the decision of the Punjab government to carry out special audits of the local governments and seize their accounts.

During proceedings the court asked the petitioners to show the notification of the government about carrying out special audit of the local governments but the attorney of the petitioners maintained that they tried to obtain the copy of notification but could not do so.

The petitioners have challenged the April 24 decision of the provincial government about sealing all records and carrying out special audit of the local governments, terming it unlawful and unilateral. They have alleged that the coercive measures are being taken to harass them and prayed to the court to stop the audit and direct the government not to harass them.