Unelected minister for six months: Constitutional clause employed rarely

ISLAMABAD: The constitutional provision allowing the prime minister to induct an unelected person as federal minister has been sparingly used in the past. Interestingly, the provision is being invoked for the second time in recent years to benefit the same individual.

The last time it was invoked was when Dr Hafeez Sheikh was made finance minister for six months by the last Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government. He was later elected senator to continue in the same office during the remaining term of the government. The provision has been relied upon once again for the same person.

The clause has existed in the present Constitution since it was introduced in 1973 in different forms. “The original provision was somewhat changed in the eighteenth amendment, but its operative part was kept the same,” prominent constitutional lawyer Ali Zafar Shah told The News when contacted for his views.

Clause 9 of Article 91 says a minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the National Assembly will, at the expiration of that period, cease to be a minister and will not before the dissolution of that assembly be again appointed a minister unless he is elected its member. However, this provision does not apply to a minister who is a member of the Senate.

In the wake of a judgment of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which barred unelected people from chairing or being members of cabinet committees, Prime Minister Imran Khan has made Dr Hafeez Sheikh the minister for finance. As an adviser, he has been in-charge of finance and revenue affairs while the premier has been his finance minister.

Ali Zafar Shah was of the opinion that Article 91(9) was an enabling provision, that should not be resorted to on a regular basis. “It may be used only in emergencies when an expert of a particular field is not available to the prime minister to head a certain cabinet portfolio. In such situations, only a couple of such persons should be inducted as ministers who will hold these offices only for six months.”

Shah said that the purpose of making an unelected person a federal minister a few months before the Senate elections was to have him in the system so that he could work smoothly after being elected. This was necessitated by the IHC verdict. All the five advisers and 16 special assistants to the prime minister have been rendered redundant by two recent IHC judgments, one delivered by a two-judge bench early this week and the other handed down by Chief Justice Athar Minallah in August. These rulings state that the advisers and special assistants cannot exercise executive authority, which is vested in the federal secretaries under the Rules of Business; they cannot preside over ministries; they can neither head nor be the members of the cabinet committees; and they can attend cabinet meetings only on invitation. Their only job is to advise the prime minister.

Meanwhile, Friday’s reshuffle of cabinet portfolios has landed Sheikh Rashid in the interior ministry – a job he has wanted for long. The change is being seen as important in view of the ongoing protests of the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), which plans a long march on Islamabad in January.

Apart from having the Islamabad police under his control, the interior minister is also the boss of the paramilitary forces, including the Rangers, that can be called to the federal capital and other places to deal with protests if needed.