PUTTING the territory's two municipal councils under the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman would not compromise their independence, the Government insisted yesterday.
Despite stiff opposition from the Urban and Regional Councils, the Government announced that the Executive Council had approved putting the two bodies under the Commissioner for Administrative Complaints, Arthur Garcia.
The Commissioner for Administrative Complaints (Amendment) Bill 1993 will be gazetted on Friday and tabled to the Legislative Council on July 21.
The bill has come three months later than originally scheduled as officials tried to persuade municipal councillors to accept the change.
The Director of Administration, Nicholas Ng Wing-fui, said the decision was not meant to single out the municipal councils although the district boards and the Legislative Council did not fall within the ambit of the Ombudsman.
Mr Ng said the district bodies and the legislature had no administrative functions while the two municipal bodies did carry out executive functions.