Sindh Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro has demanded the federal government immediately constitute the National Finance Commission (NFC) with the start of 2025 to issue a fresh NFC award as per the constitution for the revised distribution of financial resources among the centre and provinces.
In a statement issued on Sunday, he said the new NFC award should increase the fiscal share of the provinces from the present portion of 57.2 per cent and the present 42.5 per cent allocation for the centre should be slashed as per the constitution.
Khuhro mentioned that the Article 160(1) of the Constitution made it mandatory for the federal government to announce a new NFC award every five years. He said no new NFC award had been announced since 2010 in negation of the constitution.
Khuhro was of the view that the fiscal share of the provinces in the NFC award as per the Article 160(3A) could only be increased, not curtailed. He warned the federal government against violating the constitution in this regard.
Khuhro, who is also the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of the Sindh Assembly, opined that the federal government had been delaying the release of the new NFC award to avoid a further increase in the financial share of the provinces as mandated by the constitution.
He was of the view that the old NFC award could not remain valid for a prolonged period as per the provisions of the 18th Constitutional Amendment. The PPP leader opined that any attempt to slash the share of provinces in the NFC award was tantamount to rolling back the 18th Constitutional Amendment. He said the PPP would never allow the federal government to undermine the Constitution and roll back the 18th Amendment.
He stated that the provinces should not suffer because of the failure of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to collect taxes on behalf of the centre. In case the FBR failed to discharge its duties, the authority to collect taxes should be devolved to the Sindh government as it had the revenue generation capacity, the Sindh PPP chief said.
He also censured the recent policy statements given by the federal finance minister and secretary while appearing before the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, which hinted at the revision of the provincial share in the NFC as according to them, the provinces had already been receiving funds in excess.
He recalled that in the past, proposals aiming at slashing the provincial fiscal share had been floated on the pretext of conditions set by the IMF or giving financial support to FATA or Gilgit-Baltistan.