ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the National Assembly Committee on Finance Friday has been unable to complete the clause-by-clause reading of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2020, and consequently, approval of the bill has been deferred till the next meeting of the committee.
The meeting of the committee presided over by Faizullah continued discussion on the Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2020, clause by clause; however, could not complete its reading, due to short of time and decided that further discussion will be carried out in the next meeting.
However, the clause by clause reading of the proposed bill; however, could not be completed due to shortage of time and the committee decided that further discussion would be carried out in the next meeting.
The committee also deferred the other bills on the request of the movers, the Eradication of Riba Bill, 2019 and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
Dr Muhammad Afzal Khan Dhandla, mover of the matter, briefed the committee pertaining to recoveries of agriculture loans in calamity-affected areas and the problems being faced to farmers for recoveries.
Senior officials of Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) informed the committee that there exist no relief for the farmers at present that Provincial Board of Revenue, Punjab has not yet declared that areas "as calamity affected".
The Committee, unanimously, directed that recovery of loans in affected areas, as pointed out by the mover may be deferred till the next meeting of the Committee.
The committee also decided that Board of Revenue, Punjab and chairperson, Ehsaas Program may be invited in the next meeting.
The committee deferred the matter referred by the Senate regarding share of erstwhile Fata in NFC Award.
According to the Finance Ministry, till announcement of the next NFC Award, the federal government is providing current as well as development expenditure of erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).
The details of the funds released by the Finance Division after merger of erstwhile Fata into the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa revealed that the total allocation amounted to Rs129.7 billion for 2021-22.
Out of this, the current budget allocation was Rs60 billion for 2021-22.
The development budget allocation was Rs52.7 billion, whereas, the IDP budget stood at Rs17 billion for 2021-22.
The meeting was attended by Dr Aisha Ghous Pasha, Syed Naveed Qamar, Ali Pervaiz, Dr Nafisa Shah, Amjad Ali Khan, Chaudhry Khalid Javed, MNA/members and Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, Dr Muhammad Afzal Dhandla, and Gul Zafar Khan, MNAs/movers besides the senior officers from Ministry of Finance and Revenue, the ZTBL and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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