The local government institutions in urban areas of Killa Abdullah include a Municipal Committee. It is headed by a chairman and consists of 16 ward members. The size of a municipal committee depends on the number of people residing in the area. There is one Chief Officer who represents the Government and assists the chairman and members in the day to day functioning.

In the rural areas of Killa Abdullah, there are 15 union councils. Each union Council is represented by a member in the District Council. In addition there is a special representation of 2 women, 1 peasant, 1 worker, bringing the total to 19 members. The Deputy Commissioner and Assistant Directors of various departments are Ex-Officio members of this Council. The functions of local Government are given in annexe 4.

The traditional decision making structure at village level used to function under an Arbitration Council (Jirga), the members of which were normally nominated by the political agent. Among the members, Mullahs and tribal Maliks were prominent. The Jirga used to exercise semi-judicial powers and their decisions were accepted due to their social status. The decision had to be endorsed by the political agent.

The Union Council is the basic unit of local Government. There are 15 Union Councils in the district. Each union Council serves a population ranging from 10,000 to 15,000. There are two women and 1 peasant seat reserved in each Union Council. The union Councils are supposed to undertake development works. Their function was limited to the construction, improvement of drainage facilities and maintenance of roads in their area. At present they are not functioning as they were dissolved by the provincial government. All Union Councils except Saranan are financially dependent on provincial Government. However, every union Council is empowered to generate its own sources of revenue (and spend those). Other functions include issuance of birth and death certificates. They also resolve conflicts among the villagers. They are autonomous and independent to make any decision within their jurisdiction. However some of the financial expenditure decisions have to be formally endorsed by the District Council.

The major constraint for them is that they are neither able to generate their own resources nor get sufficient grants from the government . Therefore, their role in development is negligible.

There is no Town Committee in district Killa Abdullah.

There is one Municipal Committee working in the district. According to the rules of LGO, municipal committees are constituted for those towns whose population ranges from 10,000 to 100,000. Representation is based on the size of the population. The non-Muslims, peasants, workers and women are given special representation. The main functions of the Municipal Committee include:

• Collection of octroi. During 1994/95 Chaman Municipal Committee collected more then Rs.12,000,000 as octroi, 740,000 rupees as taxes, Rs.290,000 as rent and 230,000 rupees in unspecified revenues. The total income of the Municipal Committee was Rs.13,260,000.
• Collection of real estate tax
• Collection of license fees from traders / shopkeeper
• Provision of civic facilities to the community
• Protection of public against fire.

The major source of income for the Municipal Committee is octroi.

There is one District Council in district Killa Abdullah. There are 19 members of the Council, 15 belong to the respective union councils while special seats are allocated to: women (2) workers (1) peasant (1). The District Council is concerned with rural development activities. Their major functions are:

• Collection of real estate tax
• Charging license fee on stone crushing plant and brick kilns.
• Collecting taxes from rural shopkeepers

These taxes are spent on the non-development expenditure of the District Council and on improvement of shingle roads. Ever since the suspension of the District Council, the Deputy Commissioner act as Administrator of the Council.