–Sindh CM writes to PM Imran, says inclusion of finance adviser in commission is unconstitutional
KARACHI: The Sindh government on Thursday rejected the recently-constituted 10th National Finance Commission (NFC), terming its formation unconstitutional.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Imran Khan, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah expressed his government’s reservations over the formation of the 10th NFC, aimed at announcing a new award for sharing of federal divisible resources between the Centre and provinces.
The Sindh chief minister stated that the appointment of certain members of the commission was in contravention of the constitution, adding that the prime minister’s adviser on finance and revenue could not head the commission. “Only the finance minister is authorised to lead the commission,” he stated.
Shah added that though it is the prerogative of the president to constitute the NFC, he has to appoint the provincial representatives after consulting the respective governors and chief ministers.
He also said that since the Centre would bear the expenses of the Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan areas, it should increase the financial share of these areas.
The NFC Award was notified on May 13. As there was a constitutional issue in presiding over the NFC meeting by the adviser on finance in the absence of the finance minister, the president, through a notification, allowed Hafeez Shaikh to preside over the commission’s functions.
As per the composition of the NFC, the finance minister would be the chairman while the provincial finance ministers will be members of the commission. Other members (experts) include PM’s finance adviser, Tariq Bajwa from the Punjab government, Dr Asad Sayeed from Sindh government, Musharraf Rasool Cyan from KP government and Javed Jabbar from Balochistan government.
Under the existing NFC arrangements, the Federal Divisible Pool (FDP) is distributed under the ratio of 57.5 per cent to 42.5 per cent among the provinces and the federal government, respectively.
The NFC Award is a constitutional obligation, which is clearly mentioned in Article 160 of the 1973 Constitution. The constitution has made it mandatory for the government to compose the NFC Award at an interval extending not more than five years for the distribution of finances between the Centre and the provinces.
According to Article 160 of the Constitution, after every five years, the president will constitute the NFC for a period of five years.
It is worth mentioning here that soon after becoming the finance minister, Asad Umar had directed the finance secretary to initiate the new NFC Award. Later, President Dr Arif Alvi had reconstituted the 9th NFC in January 2019, and the then-finance minister Umar had started negotiations with the provinces. However, after his resignation as the finance minister, the process of the consultation had come to a halt as the newly-appointed adviser on finance could not chair the NFC meetings due to legal reasons.
Moreover, the new NFC Award also asked the province to pay for defence and other expenditures. They included the assessment and allocation of resources to meet expenditures made on security and natural disasters and calamities. As the provinces objected to additional share for the heads of security and national disaster institutions in the past, it is likely that they will object to this as well.
Another addition was the assessment of total public debt and allocation of resources for its repayment and may also invite objection from provinces.
