Stay order in NFC case likely if govt doesn’t reply by 27th: IHC

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday again sought comments from the Finance Division over a petition against the formation of tenth National Finance Commission (NFC) till Thursday.

The bench expressed concern over the non-submission of reply over the petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Justice Miangul Hassan Aurgangzeb conducted the hearing. During the course of proceeding, the petitioner also submitted a miscellaneous application seeking permission to file more documents in the case which was accepted by the court.

The court ordered that attorney general or additional attorney general must appear before it on the next hearing. The court also made the letter of Sindh chief minister part of case record which contained reservations on the NFC.

The representative of finance ministry pleaded before the court that the identical petitions were also filed before the Sindh and Balochistan high courts which should be shifted to the IHC as well.

To this, the bench asked whether the ministry had moved any petition to the Supreme Court seeking to club the identical petitions. The representative said no such petition had been filed before the apex court yet. The bench directed the ministry to submit comments on the petition under process before this court, adding the court could pass a stay order if the respondent failed to file reply till June 27.