The federal government has issued a new notification regarding the constitution of the National Finance Commission (NFC), withdrawing the previous one which allowed Finance Adviser Hafeez Shaikh to chair the commission.
The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday disposed of a petition challenging the old NFC notification after attorney general presented the new one before the court which excluded the finance adviser from the NFC. “The petition has become ineffective after the withdrawal of the old notification,” Justice Amir Farooq remarked, adding, “If the petition has any objection to the new NFC notification then he can also challenge it.”
However, PML-N MNA Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha, the petitioner, argued that their objection was that the NFC had been formed without consulting them. “I also had issues with the last NFC notification. I advised the government on this after which the new notification was issued,” said Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan, adding that the terms of references (TORs) of the formation of NFC have also been changed.
Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb praised the attorney general for his comment, saying that not every attorney general speaks like this. Mohsin Ranjha said their victory is that they have pursued the government to work in accordance with the constitution.
Meanwhile, President Dr Arif Alvi has reconstituted the 10th National Finance Commission, excluding finance adviser and finance secretary. Qaisar Bengali has replaced Javed Jabbar as Member Balochistan in the new NFC. A new notification has been issued, according to which federal finance minister will be the chairman of the NFC, with finance ministers of relevant provinces as members. Tariq Bajwa will represent Punjab, Musharraf Rasool Sayyan from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while Dr Assad Saeed will be NFC member from Sindh.
