ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did not submit a summary to the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet for funds as Technical Supplementary Grant or Supplementary Grant (TSG/SG) subsequent to the order of the Supreme Court for provision of Rs 21 billion for elections in Punjab and KP, well-informed sources told Business Recorder.
The Finance Division apprised the Federal Cabinet on April 9, 2023 that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) moved a summary on 19 November 2022 for ECC for provision of Rs47.477 billion for General Elections in the country in a phased manner: (i) financial year 2022-23 Rs 18.655 billion; and (ii) financial year 2023-24, Rs.28.762 billion.
The ECC, on 29 November 2022 approved provision of funds to the tune of Rs. 15.0 billion (Rs. 5.0 billion already budgeted for the purpose + Rs. 10.0 billion) through Supplementary Grant for current financial year 2022-23, in favour of ECP for holding of upcoming General Elections in the country.
The ECC further directed that Rs 5.0 billion would be released on first tranche and the balance amount in two equal tranches of Rs. 5.0 billion. The second and third tranche would be released on utilization of the first and second tranche respectively. In pursuance of the ECC’S decision, Finance Division released the already budgeted Rs. 5.0 billion for the purpose of General Elections. The balance Rs. 10.0 billion was in the process of being released to ECP as per ECC decision.
Subsequently, ECP requested on January 24, 2023 for additional funds of Rs. 14.388 billion through Technical Supplementary Grant (TSG) due to the dissolution of two Provincial Assemblies and resignations of the members, National Assembly. Thus, total demand of ECP for election purposes stood at Rs. 61.805 billion. However, no summary was moved by the ECP for any additional amount.
The Supreme Court called for Finance Secretary’s appearance in the Constitution Petition No.5 of 2023 titled “Mohammad Sibtain Khan and others vs ECP” on April 3, 2023. A report was submitted in the Supreme Court which in its judgement in the case on April 04, 2023 received in Finance Division on April 05, 2023 directed the Federal Government to release and to provide to the Commission funds in the sum of Rs. 21.0 billion for the purpose of the General Elections to the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assemblies forthwith and in any case by April 10, 2023.
The directions of the Supreme Court to release and provide funds to the ECP had been given to the Federal Government. According to the judgement in the Mustafa Impex case, the Federal Government had been laid down as the Federal Cabinet. No summary demanding funds as TSG/SG had been received from the ECP subsequent to the order of the Supreme Court.
The Finance Division placed the matter before the Federal Cabinet for its consideration and direction in order to comply with the directions of the Supreme Court on April 4, 2023.
During discussion, many Cabinet Members drew attention to the Resolution by the Parliament, which unequivocally stated that majority judgement of Supreme Court by 4-3 would prevail and should be complied with. While rejecting the judgement of three-member bench, the Parliament cautioned the Prime Minister and the Federal Cabinet against implementing that judgement.
The matter of whether the ECP operational expenditure was voted or charged expenditure was also brought to the fore. It was pointed out that though the precedent had been that it was treated as a charged expense, however, Article 81(b) of the Constitution directed to the contrary. The said Article envisaged that only remunerations and administrative expenses would be charged expenditure and it did not include operational expenditure.
“Since this was a long-standing practice, it was agreed that this issue may be taken up in due course,” the sources said adding that it was further decided that the only way to allocate the amount was to create a new charge on Federal Consolidated Fund, specifically for this purpose through an appropriate bill.
The Members, after detailed discussion on orders/judgments of the Supreme Court, in relation to the General Elections to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assemblies and the applicable Constitutional provisions, were in consensus that Finance Division should be directed to place an appropriate Bill before the Cabinet for consideration and onward placement before the Parliament, as mandated under the Constitution.
After detailed discussions, the Cabinet directed the Finance Division to place before the Cabinet, for its consideration, an appropriate Bill for onward placement before parliament as mandated under the Constitution.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
Comments
Comments are closed.