IHC decides to form special bench to hear NFC case.

ISLAMABAD -- Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday has decided to form a special bench for the hearing of National Finance Commission (NFC) formation case.

According to details, Justice Mian Gull Hassan Aurangzeb has suggested to constitute a two-member bench for further case proceedings. The file of the matter has been forwarded to Chief Justice Islamabad High Court Justice Athar Minallah.

Earlier the hearing of the case was scheduled for Friday but not the hearing of the case will be held next week.

It is worth mentioning here that on May 12, 2020, President Dr. Arif Alvi had constituted the 10th NFC, with effect from April 23, 2020, to work out a resource distribution mechanism between the federation and the provinces.

According to a notification issued by the NFC Secretariat, Finance Division, on Tuesday, the president had authorized Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, in the absence of Federal Minister for Finance, to chair the meetings of the commission, which was constituted under Article 160(1) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The 10-member commission comprises federal finance secretary as the official expert, four provincial finance ministers, and four technical members of the provinces, including Tariq Bajwa, Dr. Asad Sayeed, Musharraf Rasool Cyan, and Javed Jabbar.

According to the terms of reference of the commission, it would devise a formula for distribution between the federation and the provinces of the net proceeds of different taxes, including taxes on income, sales and purchase of goods and export duties.

On May 19, 2020, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President and Member National Assembly Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan had challenged the formation of the commission in the IHC.

The petition named...