BHC order on NFC: Inclusion of Hafeez, secy finance invalid

QUETTA: A two-member bench of Balochistan High Court (BHC) Tuesday declared null and void a notification issued by President Dr Arif Alvi for constitution of 10th National Finance Commission (NFC), ruling that the members’ appointment was not in accordance with the Constitution.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel and Justice Nazeer Ahmed Lango, annulled the appointments of Finance Adviser Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and the federal finance secretary as members of the Commission.

Issuing orders for implementation of Article 160 of the Constitution for appointment of the NFC members, the court ruled that the Balochistan governor should appoint a new member on the recommendation of the provincial government in accordance with the spirit of Article 160 of the Constitution. The court passed the orders on the applications of Kamran Murtaza Advocate, Sajid Tareen Advocate, Muhammad Aslam Bhootani and others. One of the members, Javed Jabbar, had taken back his name.

The court directed that the governor and the provincial government should together appoint some unofficial member as the NFC member having an in-depth understanding of the economic problems of the province and being well versed in economic matters.

The order said the spirit of the Constitution was not followed in the appointment of Dr Hafeez Shaikh and therefore he could not be a member of the Commission.

The order further said as per spirit of the Constitution, the federal finance secretary also could not be a member of the Commission and his appointment by the president of Pakistan was unconstitutional.

Giving some room, the court said the federal and provincial secretaries could assist their respected ministries in the matter.

The bench said the guidelines about the working of the NFC had been expressively explained in Article 160 of the Constitution and therefore any order in clash with the Constitution was illegal and unconstitutional.

The bench said the president of Pakistan and NFC both were bound to implement the Constitution of Pakistan.

The order said the federal government and provinces should make federation-friendly decisions rather than indulging in the race to get the lion’s share of the finances.

The order said since many departments had become a provincial subject after the 18th Amendment, their expenditures had increased substantially, but due to the low GDP the federation and provinces were facing an extraordinary increase in expenditures.

The order said the federation and provinces had failed to ensure financial discipline causing an increase in the departmental expenses.

The order said under Article 160 of the Constitution, the shares of the provinces in the NFC award could not be slashed and expected that the federal government would devise a modus operandi to increase revenues.

Under Article 160 of the Constitution, the president constitutes the NFC after every five years. The award is implemented after consensus among the federating units on distribution of funds.

Meanwhile, A single-member bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday recommended the chief justice to constitute a division bench to hear a case against formation of tenth National Finance Commission (NFC).

Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb of IHC sent the case to Chief Justice Athar Minallah in this regard. The petition was moved by Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Leader Khurram Dastagir.