Page 61 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IXI
pertaining to state security, or known to be a member of a group
or a party involved in committing conspiracy or aggression
against state security.
Anyone deprived of his Omani nationality may regain it, by
means of a Sultani Decree, whenever the reasons for his loss of
nationality have lapsed. (Art. 12)

2. Territorial Division

The State is divided into several towns, or districts, the most
important of which are Muscat (the political and commercial
capital), Mattrah, Salalah (the present residence of the Sultan) and
Nizwah in the Oman interior. There is a Municipality Department
which deals with the local affairs of coastal towns. There is also a
Statute establishing a Municipal Committee for the only
municipality in the Sultanate. The Statute, promulgated under the
Sultanate Municipal Law 1369 (1952),1 provides for the
establishment of “a body corporate, called the Municipal
Committee, having a seal, with power to acquire and hold property
both movable and immovable, and the Committee shall by the said
name sue and be sued. The Committee shall have authority over the
municipality in accordance with the provisions of this law, and shall
consist of such number members, nominated or elected, from
among the inhabitants, either by name or in virtue of office, as the
High Authority prescribe”.
Further, the authority of the Municipal Committee extends to
such matters as issuing by-laws for the security and good
administration of the towns and imposing the necessary taxes
approved by the Sultan.
3. The State Organs

The executive powers of the state are not regulated by any
constitutional document. The Sultan, in whose hands is the entire
administration of the Sultanate, is assisted by a recently constituted
Council of Ministers and by governors, known as walis throughout
the country. The provincial governors, who look after security and
the maintenance of law and order throughout the Sultanate, report
directly to the Minister of Interior, who, in turn, is responsible to the
Sultan. However, in the interior of Oman, real authority is exercised
by tribal Shaikhs and religious leaders over whom the Sultan
exercises indirect control.2

1. P.G. Gaz. Suppl. No. 11, 1 Jan, 1956.
2. See this book at pp. 18-19, below.