Members of National Finance Commission from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have accused Nawaz Sharif-led administration of lacking interest in federalism and of supporting a centralised non-transparent decision-making process.
Kaiser Benglai (Balochistan) and Professor Ibrahim (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) expressed these views at Aaj TV programme "Paisa Bolta Hai" with Anjum Ibrahim.
"There is no logical reason for delay in National Finance Commission (NFC) Award other than a disinterest in federalism by the incumbent government," said Bengali.
Citing a recent press release issued by the Ministry of Finance regarding the financial budget, Professor Ibrahim representing KP province, said that preparation of next fiscal budget on the basis of the 7th Award, would be unlawful because 9th NFC Award was due from April 2015.
Bengali said that the PML-N has no commitment to federalism and prefers centralised decision-making without including anybody in the decision-making process". Referring to the Council of Common Interest (CCI) meetings, he said, the CCI is a constitutional body that is required to meet every 90 days, but its meetings are called only when there the federal government has something on the agenda and that is another example of the Sharif administration's lack of commitment to federalism.
He said that during the 7th NFC Award negotiations, then Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his advisor Ishaq Dar (now federal finance minister), had suggested 60% share of provinces in the divisible pool but now changed their position in favour of Centre.
Professor Ibrahim said that federal government's reluctance to convene an NFC meeting was against article 160 of the Constitution and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was considering going to the Supreme Court against violation of the constitution.
Bengali said that a formal response would be presented in the next NFC meeting to Ishaq Dar's proposal during the last NFC meeting held in December 2016 for provinces to release 7 percent of their share of the divisible pool for national security fund (3%) and development of FATA, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan (4%).
Professor Ibrahim stated that a break up was requested in this regard but that had not been provided so far. Since the constitution of the 9th NFC Award 2 years ago, only three meetings have been held and those were focussed on conducting studies.
Bengali said he had refused to participate in the studies as they had no relevance to negotiations for the Award.
Professor Ibrahim said that his inexperience led him to agree to the studies but he hastened to add that now, he agreed with the stance adopted by Bengali. He said that the provinces had completed their studies but the federal government had not.
He further pointed out that the federal government had unfairly stated in the budget that the NFC meeting could not be convened because studies were incomplete.
He said that finance division statement that budget would be prepared on the 7th NFC was unlawful.
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