Notices issued on plea seeking reconstitution of NFC award.

KARACHI -- The Sindh High Court has issued notices to the federal secretaries of finance and cabinet division and others on a petition seeking reconstitution of the tenth National Finance Commission Award.

The two-judge bench headed by Justice Omar Sial issued pre-admission notices to the respondents for Aug 18 and directed the petitioner to satisfy the bench on the maintainability of the petition.

Renowned economist Dr Kaiser Bengali through his lawyer petitioned the SHC against the NFC award and submitted that the notification of the tenth NFC Award was issued in violation of Article 160 of Constitution since direct and effective consultations were not made in appointments of its members.

The petitioner, who had been a member of NFC thrice in the past representing Sindh and Balochistan, further contended that the appointments of additional members of the tenth NFC were made without due consultation with governors of provinces.

He also raised objection over the adviser to the prime minister on finance for heading the NFC and argued that the adviser did not retain the authority to chair or convene the NFC proceedings/meetings whether in the absence of the federal finance minister or even otherwise and as the same was ultra vires to Constitution.

The petitioner impleaded the federation of Pakistan through the federal finance secretary and the secretary of cabinet division, NFC through finance division and the province of Sindh through its finance secretary and the chief secretary as respondents in the petition.

He maintained that the terms of reference mentioned in the tenth NFC notification issued on May 12, were beyond the scope of Article 160 of Constitution since issues such as public debt, rationalization of subsidies and losses of state-owned corporations were not within the domain of the commission, but the jurisdictions of other constitutional forums like the Council of Common Interests or the National Economic Council.

He further asserted that certain terms of reference dealt with budgetary issues which were dealt with by separate articles of the Constitution and did not fall within the ambit of the commission, adding that issues of allocation of resources for Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan as well as expenditures for security were the sole competence of the federal government and parliament and had no bearing on the commission's proceedings.

The petitioner urged the court to declare the May 12 notification for...

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