NFC misery and 18th Amendment.

Byline: Muhammad Javaid

THE National Action Plan (NAP) is an action plan that was established by the federal government in January 2015 to crack down on terrorism and to supplement the ongoing anti-terrorist activities in the country. The plan received unprecedented levels of support and cooperation across the country's political spectrum, inclusive of the federal and provincial governments. After the consensus and agreement on National Action Program constitutionally federal government was guaranteed to implement and finance it. Unfortunately, no prompt action was seen in the PML-N government as required because provincial governments consider exclusively responsibility of the federal government whereas federal government was of the view that both federal and provincial governments are joint stakeholders of NAP. The implementation on NAP was found difficult due to different parties governments in different provinces. PML-N desired for readjustment of federal and provincial share determined in the 7th NFC Award in 2010. It is also reported that IMF also sees that award as a contributor to the federal government's fiscal woes, while other donors find it convenient to deal with the federal government as a partner.

It was required to convene the NFC meeting immediately to redefine the federal and provincial share but couldn't be convened. Now National Finance Commission meeting has been convened some four years too late. This is where the grumbling about the provincial governments' poor capacity is sourced. Interestingly, the provinces have started posting deficits in the last two years, a sign of the expanding capacity to spend, but an artificial for the overall fiscal deficit. It is pertinent to note that 18th Amendment allows provincial borrowing, the limits set by the National Economic Council, which have been observed. In addition, the 18th Constitutional Amendment is blamed for tying the federal hands by making the provincial share irretrievable in Article-160 (3A) 'The share of the Provinces in each Award of National Finance Commission shall not be less than the share given to the Provinces in the previous Award'.

The federal government lacks the numbers in Parliament to force its way. Rightly, it did not use the vague room for manoeuvre for the President in Article-160 (6) 'At any time before an Order under clause (4) is made, the President may, by Order, make such amendments or modifications in the law relating to the distribution of...

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