Abdul Hafeez Shaikh sworn in as Federal Minister, takes charge of Finance
- Shaikh was previously serving as an Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance.
- IHC has ruled that unelected advisers and special assistants could not head government’s committees and has barred Advisor to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh from heading the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP).
President Dr. Arif Alvi administered the oath to Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh at a ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Friday.
Shaikh was previously serving as an Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance. He has now been handed the portfolio of the finance ministry. The move comes in light of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) decision on the inclusion of advisors and special assistants in cabinet committees.
Just days ago, IHC has ruled that unelected advisers and special assistants could not head government’s committees and has barred Advisor to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh from heading the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP).
The IHC took up a petition submitted by lawmaker Rana Iradat Sharif Khan. The petition challenged the appointment of Sheikh as chairman and Adviser to the PM on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood and Adviser to the PM on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr Ishrat Hussain as members of the CCoP.
In his petition, Khan said that unlike ministers, advisers are not part of the federal government, and they do not take an oath and are not responsible to parliament in terms of Article 91(6) of the Constitution.
He pleaded that the court declare the said notification void, illegal, unlawful, and set aside the same.
A division of the IHC comprising Aamer Farooq and Ghulam Azam Qambrani on Tuesday released its detailed judgment on the appointment of the advisors and the special assistants to the prime minister.
The judgment authored by Justice Aamer Farooq stated, "Conferring the status of federal minister on the advisor to the prime minister is only for the purposes of perks and privileges and does not make the advisor a federal minister as such."
"An advisor to the prime minister is not member of the cabinet and cannot participate in the proceedings; hence he can also not be a member or even chair the committee of the cabinet. He can address the parliament but cannot participate in the voting process."
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