Reviving Zila Parishad

[Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker]

WHILE talking to the representatives of the upazila chairmen and vice-chairmen at his secretariat office on June 7, LGRD and Cooperatives minister, Syed Ashraful Islam, revealed that the zila parishads would be made functional in the year 2010 as the government had planned to enact a law to this effect by the beginning of that year. This is a welcome statement because of the fact that zila parishads have remained non-functional for the last 18 years or so.

A look into the history of the local governments in the geographical area that now constitutes Bangladesh shows that the district-level local government body was the most important tier of the three-tier local government system introduced following the passage of the Local-Self Government Act 1885. These were: (1) a District Board (DB) at each district, (2) a Local Board (LB) in a sub-division of a district, and (3) a Union Committee (UC) for a group of villages. The DB was made the centre-piece in the local government system and entrusted with extensive powers and responsibilities. The LB acted as an agent of the DB, while the former was a supervising body of the UCs.

[Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker]

The British system of local government continued till the imposition of martial law by Ayub Khan in 1958, which suspended all local bodies. The Basic Democracies Order (BDO) of 1959, providing for a four-tier local government system not only changed the name of the DB to District Council (DCn) but also destroyed the democratic character of the body by appointing the Deputy Commissioner as its ex-officio chairman in place of the elected chairman, and vesting all executive powers in him.

Immediately after independence, the Awami League (AL) government dissolved all the existing local government bodies and appointed committees to administer these defunct bodies. The deputy commissioner was made the administrator of the district committee.
Articles 59 and 60 of the constitution of 1972, which included specific provisions relating to the basic structure, functions and power of local government bodies, were deleted by the Constitution (Fourth Amendment) Act, 1975.

[Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker]

The Local Government Ordinance (LGO) 1976, promulgated by the government of General Ziaur Rahman, introduced a three-tier local government system. The Zila Parishad (ZP) was one of them, the other two being Thana Parishad (TP) and Union Parishad (UP). The LGO provided for a ZP that was to consist of elected, official and nominated women-members, including a chairman and vice-chairman to be elected by them from amongst themselves.

General H.M. Ershad, who seized power in March 1982, transformed thanas into upazilas (sub-districts) and sub-divisions into zilas (districts). So, the three tiers of local government stood as Union Parishad (UP), Upazila Parishad (UZP) and Zila Parishad (ZP).
In 1988, the Jatiya Party government of President Ershad enacted the Zila Parishad Act. According to this Act, a ZP comprised (a) public representatives such as MPs, UP chairmen and municipality chairmen of the concerned district, (b) nominated members and (c) certain officials including the deputy commissioner of the district without voting right. The ZP chairmen were to be appointed by the government.

[Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker]

The ZP, as established by the Act, ceased to exist with the fall of Ershad government on December 6, 1990. The BNP government that came to power in 1991 abolished the UZPs. The UZP system reintroduced by the AL-led alliance government this year has come under the supervision of the local MP and thereby lost its independence.

The above narrative is given to show how the local governments, starting their journey in a democratic environment, subsequently suffered from undemocratic actions of the central government.

While the statement of the minister for LGRD and Cooperatives has ushered in hope for revival of the ZPs, it has also raised some questions. Will a ZP be an elected body as envisaged in the Article 59 of the constitution? What will be the rank and status of the chairman of ZP? Will the central government retain power to supersede a ZP on some excuses? Will it be able to exercise the financial power as envisaged in Article 60 of the constitution? Will the grants and loans from the central government come with heavy strings?

[Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker]

These questions come to the forefront for some valid reasons. Article 59 of the constitution says that local government in every administrative unit of the republic will be entrusted to bodies composed of persons elected in accordance with law. The Upazila Parishad Act 2009 has given a lawmaker elected from a constituency the authority to control the decisions of the UZP. According to some legal experts, since a lawmaker is not elected for a UZP, empowering him to control the decisions of the UZP violates the constitution. It is believed that the proposed law on ZP will not authorise any external authority to control the decisions of the ZPs.

The 1988 Act provided for a government appointed chairman in each ZP, who could be removed by the government without showing any reason. We hope that this will not be repeated in the proposed law on ZP. The chairman and the vice-chairman, if any, of a ZP should be directly elected and may be given the rank and status of state minister and deputy minister respectively.

A ZP should have sufficient power to raise funds by imposing taxes, fees, etc. The political identity of the chairman of a ZP should not influence sanction of grants and loans by the government for implementing development programs of a ZP.

[Md. Fouad Hossain Sarker]

Democracy is one of the fundamental principles of our state policy. Keeping this in view, the constitution has provided for elected local government in every administrative unit of the republic. The Constitution, particularly Articles 11, 59 and 60, should guide the framing of the proposed Zila Parishad law.

Sourse: M. Abdul Latif Mondal, Reviving Zila Parishad, The Daily Star: August-31, 2009.