Page 98 - Muzaffargarh Gazzetteer

6 Town Committees 45 22 - 67
7 Union Committees 31 - - 31
87 Union Council 955 416 - 1,371

The District Council, Muzaffargarh was constituted on June 30, 1960. It was
headed by the Deputy Commissioner/District Magistrate whereas the
Additional District Magistrate, Muzaffargarh and Sub-Divisional Magistrate,
Layyah were appointed as the ex-officio chairmen of Muzaffargarh and
Layyah Municipal Committees respectively. The term of Basic Democracies
institutions so created was fixed as 5 years.
The system was finally wrapped up in 1969 with the ouster of General Ayub
Khan, its architect. The local government institutions remained suspended
from 1969 to 1979. In 1979, General Zia-ul-Haq revived the local government
system and elections were held under the Punjab Local Government
Ordinance 1979. During the civilian rule of 1988–99, four democratically
elected political governments gained power, but the local government system
remained on the back burner. In 2001, General Pervez Musharraf introduced
an ambitious Devolution of Power Plan, as a result of which the institution
of Zila Nazim was introduced at the head of the Zila Council. The composition
of the Zila Council was as follows:
UC Nazims 93
Women 31
Peasants 6
Minorities 5
Total 135

The tenure of the Zila Council was fixed as 4 years. However, no elections
were held after 2005, and the DCO was appointed as the Administrator. The
Local Government system underwent yet another change and the Punjab
Local Government Act, 2013 was enacted. Elections under the 2013 Act were
held in 2015, however, the elected representatives assumed their
responsibilities on January 1, 2017. The composition of the District Council
was fixed as follows:

Chairmen UCs 111
Women 15
Minorities 5
Peasants/Workers 5
Total 136

The system hardly worked for 2 years when all local governments, including
the District Council, were abolished once again on May 4, 2019, and the

93