ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan apprised the apex court that no money would be handed over to legislators to carryout development works.
Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed on Thursday submitted a letter of Finance Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal, which contained a separate note of the prime minister and counter-signed by him, that denied the media report about distribution of public funds to the parliamentarians by the federal government.
The prime minister’s note termed the media report incorrect.
“No money will be handed over to the legislators to carry out development schemes,” said the PM’s note.
All the provinces – Punjab, Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and the ICT – have also categorically denied distribution of public funds to lawmakers.
A five-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, and comprising Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, and Justice Ijazul Ahsan heard a suo motu regarding the distribution of development funds to MNAs/MPAs by the prime minister.
At the outset of the proceedings, Justice Umar Ata Bandial stated in this case the premier is not “personally responsible”.
“How can we go against the PM he’s not responsible personally? If the government fails then the PM can’t be held responsible personally as according to the Rules of Business, secretary is the government and not the prime minister. Don’t cause us to do anything which is illegal and unconstitutional,” Justice Bandial said.
The judge asked the AGP that he should have taken objection when the prime minister was held responsible directly.
The attorney general replied; “I do take the objection.”
Upon that, Justice Qazi Faez Isa inquired from him whether he was taking objection on the constitution’s provisions or the apex court’s order.
The attorney general; “I take objection on both.”
When the attorney general finished reading the letter, Justice Faez said: “Yesterday I received a WhatsApp message from [an] unknown source with an attached document. I am not saying it is genuine, but the message mentioned massive that amount was doled in NA-65, a constituency held by the coalition partner of the ruling party. The amount was spent on PWD Road, parks and other project[s] of the constituency.”
Justice Faez questioned whether the distribution of public funds is not a favour to the allied legislator.
He further asked: was this a coincidence that a huge money given to the lawmaker of the ruling party before the Senate election.
“We are not the enemy to anyone. All we [are] trying is to follow the constitution and stop the corrupt practices,” said Justice Faez, adding; “an army of Twitteratis flooded tweets against me but I took no action on them.”
He questioned: Is it not the duty of the Election Commission of Pakistan to act in accordance with the Constitution and take notice of it [doling out money in NA-65]?
Upon that Justice Umar Ata Bandial asked; “Did the PM not say that he has not distributed any fund?”
The judge said the PM is elected by the people of Pakistan.
“I am not seeing the violation of Article 248 of Constitution,” he added.
Justice Faez said: “We have not summoned the prime minister or chief ministers in the instant matter. In the past the PM and CM have been summoned by the courts. We don’t want to do that.”
Justice Faez further said: “Is it the job of the PM to distribute cheques in small gatherings as he did yesterday?”
The judge was referring to the distribution of Ehsas Programme cheques by PM Imran Khan among women in Kallar Syedan, Rawalpindi district.
Justice Faez also said that sometime the PM says that “five-year term is too short”.
The chief justice said: “We are not controlling the office of the PM. He [premier] has submitted the report and denied distribution of money.”
“An honorable judge [Justice Faez] and the prime minister are parties to a case”, the noted.
The chief justice after expressing satisfaction over the replies submitted by the attorney general and the advocates general of all the provinces and the ICT disposed of the matter.
In response to a courts query whether federal and provincial governments have handed over or intended to hand over monies to the legislators, the finance secretary in his letter wrote: “The Finance Division has not allocated or handed over monies to any legislator or any other person, nor has it intended to do so. There is no such provision in the public finance management system.”
“The Finance Division has not received any direction or request from any quarter to allocate these funds, or any other funds, to any specific project or any project identified by a legislator any other person,” the letter added.
To another question whether distribution of public funds was in accordance with the constitution and an apex court judgment, the finance secretary submitted; “Finance Division has been mandated to deal with the matter relating to the Annual Budget Statement, Supplementary Budget Statement, Indicative Budget Ceiling (IBC), and all ancillary matters. Finance Division processes all these matters in accordance with Article 80 to 85 of Constitution, Public Finance Management Act, 2019 and Rules and Regulations made on the subject.
“Budgetary appropriations are set out in the form of various current and the development demands, for each division/development under the control of Principal Accounting Officers (PAO) concerned, and are expended thereform under the authority of the PAO. Annual Budget is prepared according to Head of Accounts as indicated in charts of accounts. The budget allocation is not person specific.
“There is no discretionary allocation at the disposal of the prime minister, federal minister, parliamentarian, or any other person, under the existing budgetary system. As such, expenditures incurred are never person specific. Rather they are demand-specific, duly approved by the National Assembly.
“In the case of the current budget, the appropriation made is Division-wise specific demands, which are under the control of the respective PAQs. In the case of the development budget, Finance Division issues a non-line IBC to the Planning Development and Special Initiative Division for further allocation to various Divisions/Departments. The current and development demands are approved by the National Assembly in accordance with the constitutional provisions.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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