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ccom/news/311053/constittutional-ameendment-for---local-goverrnment

Friday, Sepptember 16, 2016

Consstitution
nal ameendmen
nt for loocal governmeent
M S Siiddiqui
British ruulers through
h the Local-S
Self Governm
ment Act 18885 introduced the local governmentt
(LG) at thhe district leevel. It had democratic
d
character of the
t three-tierr local goverrnment systeem -a Districtt Board at eaach district, a Local Boarrd at each suub-division and
a a Union Committee for a
group of villages. Th
he structure lost
l its demoocratic character with thee imposition of martial laaw
by Ayub Khan in 195
58, which suuspended all local bodiess. The Basic Democraciees Order of 1959
1
not only changed thee name of thee District Booard to Distriict Council but
b also led to
t the
appointm
ment of the deputy
d
comm
missioner as its
i ex-officioo chairman in place of thhe elected
chairmann.
Banglabaandhu incorp
porated provvision in the Constitutionn for LG systtem.The clauuse 59 and 60
6 of
part lll off constitution
n has provisiion of Locall Governmennt (LG). Thee Local Goveernment in every
e
administrrative unit of the Republlic shall be entrusted
e
to bodies,
b
compposed of perrsons electedd in
accordannce with law. The functioon of LG aree : (1)Adminnistration andd the work of
o public offiicers;
(2) the maintenance
m
of
o public ordder; (3) the preparation
p
a implemeentation of plans relatingg to
and
public seervices and economic
e
devvelopment. They
T
have also
a given poower to impoose taxes for
local purrposes, to preepare their budgets
b
and to
t maintain funds.
f
The succcessive goverrnments andd military rullers used its unfettered authority
a
to modify
m
laws and
rules relaating to locall governmennt. This practtice hinderedd consistency in the form
m and functioons
of the loccal governm
ment and triedd to use LG for
f consolidation of pow
wer base. Ann unique exam
mple
is the ZillaPorishad (Z
ZP). Militaryy ruler ZiaurrRahman proomulgated a local governnment ordinaance
in 1976 which
w
provid
ded for a ZP in each district, to be comprised off elected reprresentatives.. But
no electioons were helld. The DC continued
c
too act as ex-offficio chairm
man of the Paarishad. Anoother
military ruler,
r
HM Errshad, thingss changed. His
H governm
ment enacted a ZilaParishhad law in 19988
with provvisions for MPs
M to serve as chairmenn of the Parishads.
BNP-led governmentt of 1991, reemoved the chairmen
c
of the ZPs as thhey were MP
Ps of Jatiya
Party, annd appointed DCs temporrarily as ex-officio chairrmen of the Parishads.
P
T DCs
The
continuedd to function
n as ex-officio chairmen until the ZillaParishad Act
A 2000 wass passed by the
t
AL-led government
g
with
w provisioons for holding polls to the
t Parishadds.All the succceeding
governm
ment has appo
ointed adminnistrators to ZilaParishad
Z
ds which is contrary
c
to thhe constitution.
Section 82(1)
8
of the law
l empoweered the government for appointmennt of adminisstrator for ann

interim period to make the Zila Parishad functional until the parishad gets constituted according
to the law. AL-led government in December 2011 has appointed political persons as
administrators to run the ZPs. AL-led government has taken a giant leap backward, replicating
the same practice of using the ZPs for narrow political purpose like BNP, despite their election
commitment made before the 9th parliamentary election to strengthen of local governments.
Section 4 of the Act prescribes that the Chairman, 15 General Members and 5 Reserved Seated
Women Members of a ZilaParishad would be elected by an Electoral College consisting of the
concerned Upazila Chairmen, Municipal Mayors and Councilors and Union Parishad Chairmen
and Members. This is contrary to the constitution since Article 11 of the Constitution provided as
a FundamentalPrinciple of State Policy for effectiveparticipation by the people through their
elected representatives in administration at all levelsshall be ensured.
The Supreme Court directed to the Govt. to establish the local government in all stages of
administration within 3 months of the Judgment (1992) but the direction has yet not been
implemented by any government. Though 14 years had elapsed since the ZilaParisad Act was
passed in 2000 by AL but no election of Chairman yet held.Our neighbor India has incorporated
the constitutional status of local government.
The 73rd Constitution Amendment Act, 1992 and the 74th Constitution Amendment Act, 1992
came into force in the year 1993. Some of the significant steps that were taken for the local
government in India include regular elections, the fixed five-year term and the review and
augmentation of the finances by the State Finance Commissions. Bangladesh made laws for each
tier of local governments, more over the law has some undemocratic and unconstitutional
provisions. According to the ZilaParishad Act, a district council should comprise a chairman, 15
regular members and five reserved women members. The elected representatives of the
upazilasparishads, the city and municipal corporations, and the union parishads will vote to elect
them.This provision in the law of nominated members are in consistence to constitution.
Unfortunately, all developmental activities in a district are coordinated by the deputy
commissioner of the concerned district. The district administrator has practically no role in them.
The role of the administrator in the ZilaParishad Act 2000 is not clear on this point.According to
a study of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), Chairman don't have any control and
authority over the district administration led by a deputy commissioner in each district. Other
officials in the district administration also do not care about the administrators, and they refrain
from attending meetings convened by the administrators to review the development activities in
the district. The ZilaParishad law should be amended to make the Parishad free from political
influence and the local government officials of different departments under control of Parishad.
Although the ZP is an important local government institution, it could not be made effectively
functional due to poor power structure and lack of elected representatives. The rigid control over
the local government bodies by MPs and the government officials' unwillingness to ensure
people's participation in power domains has made the ZilaParishads virtually dysfunctional.
All the local governments of India have to perform certain responsibilities, which are divided
into two categories-obligatory functions and discretionary functions. Some of the obligatory

functions performed by the local governments are: (1)Registration of births and deaths, (2)
Supply of pure drinking water, (3) Construction and maintenance of public streets, (4) Lighting
and watering of public streets, (5) Cleaning of public streets, places and sewers, (6) Naming
streets and numbering houses, (7) Establishment and maintenance of primary schools, (8)
Maintenance or support of public hospitals. They have some of the discretionary functions,
which are performed by the local governments in India, are: (1) Planting and maintenance of
trees, (2) Housing for low income groups, (3) Construction and maintenance of public parks,
gardens, libraries, museums, rest houses and other public buildings, (4) Securing or removal of
dangerous buildings or places.
The local government bodies were more powerful during the British era, but it became weaker
these days due to the central government's influence on them. The ZilaParishad has now become
a dysfunctional institution due to rigid control of the central government and influence of local
lawmakers.
The Bangladesh constitution did not mention different aspects of local government such as, the
composition, structure, election/nomination, functions/responsibilities, financial power, sources
of income, rules of procedure, control of local bodies, monitoring etc. Clear and specific
constitutional directions like Indian constitution will restrain the rulers from frequently
modifying local government system and give consistency in its functioning, which is especially
important for institutionalization of the local self-government system.
Government is in process of amend the ZilaParishad Law but they should consider amending the
constitution to incorporate the construction, election, authority and function of local government
the LG really effective. LG should be free from frequent change of law in any tier of local
government. SkHasina can consolidate her position in the history with an effective constitutional
amendment for a democratic and effective local government.

The writer is a Legal Economist