MANSEHRA: The controversy surrounding the budget`s passage by the Mansehra district council deepened on Thursday as the local government department is understood to have declared the district government`s budget `unapproved`.

Also in the day, the opposition parties tabled a no-confidence motion against the district nazim and naib nazim.

Last week, deputy commissioner Aamer Khattak had written to the local government department`s secretary seeking opinion on whether the Rs7.02 billion budget okayed by the district council stands approved under the law.

The council had approved the budget on Dec 21 by a majority vote i.e. 43 of the total 88 councillors prompting the opposition to question the legality of the occurrence.

The opposition insisted the budget didn`t stand approved as the consent of at least half of the 88 district council members was mandatory for the approval.

Sources told Dawn that the local government department`s secretary had replied to the deputy commissioner`s letter declaring that in fact, the budget presented in the council on Dec 21 was not approved.

However, there is no official word on the reply.

Meanwhile, 35 councillors from both PPP and PTI filed the no-confidence motion with Mansehra government`s secretary Mohammad Arshad.

Led by PPP councillor Malik Farooq and PTI councillor Shahid Rafiq, they sought the calling of the house for voting on the motion.

`The district nazim and naib nazim have failed to get the budget approved from the district council. Under Section 35(2) of Local Government Act, both should be axed if they fail to secure a vote of confidence from the house,` Mr Farooq told reporters. He said the naib nazim, who was also the convener of the district council, was bound by the law to summon a meeting of the house within the next seven days to put the motion to vote.

The PPP councillor said both nazim and naib nazim didn`t get more than 40 votes as a councillor of Qaumi Watan Party had withdrawn support for them over differences.

When contacted, district nazim Said Ghulam rejected the local government department`s purported opinion on the budget`s passage and said the budget stood passed by the council under the law. He said as the council passed the budget, there was no justification for no-confidence motion against him and naib nazim.

The nazim said the opposition should wait until the district government completed first six months in office, to table a noconfidence motion against it under Local Government Act.