Rabbani confident as deadline approaches: devolution process by June 30

Chairman of the Implementation Commission on the 18th Amendment, Raza Rabbani has expressed the confidence that the devolution would be completed within the stipulated timeframe. "There should be no doubt that the devolution process would be completed by June 30," he told Business Recorder.
Federal Government has, however, made a special allocation of Rs 10 billion in budget 2011-12 for the remaining functions of some departments and employees of devolved ministries. Finance Ministry has not allocated any funds in budget 2011-12 for devolving federal ministries to provinces.
The ceilings would not be issued to the ministries that are expected to undergo deletion of functions as per the 18th Amendment. However, a total of Rs 10 billion has been reserved for fiscal year 2011-12 over the medium-term that would fund the remaining function and the retained employees of these ministries.
Additional Secretary Ministry of Finance, Rana Assad Amin confirmed to Business Recorder that the Ministry has allocated Rs 10 billion for the functions of remaining departments/employees in the federal government after 30th June, 2011. He said that all federal ministries which fall under the legislation of 18th Amendment of the Constitution would be delegated to the provinces.
Rana Assad Amin said that most of the Rs 10 billion would be released for the new Division, namely, "Capital Administration and Development Division" which has been constituted under clause (9) of Article 270AA of the Constitution by Implementation Commission, under the Cabinet Secretariat. He said that some amount would be released to those federal ministries under which some departments of devolved ministries would function. He said that for this purpose, Finance Ministry has allocated Rs 10 billion in pink book of budget-2011-12.
According to documents available with Business Recorder, remaining institutions of the devolved ministries would function under new "Capital Administration and Development Division" while some departments would be merged with Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Planning and Development Divisions and other departments of federal government.
According to documents, some departments of devolved ministries such as Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal, National Library and Resource Centre Islamabad, National Council of Social Welfare (NCSW), The National Institute of Special Education, National Braille Press, The Women Welfare and Development Centre, Social Welfare Training Institution, National Trust for the Disabled (NTD), National Council for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons(NCRDP), Trust for Voluntary Organisations (TVO) and Centres and Institutions of Special Education in Islamabad and others would merge with Federal organisations.
For this purpose, the federal government would have to amend or repeal Ordinances, Orders and Acts issued from time to time. As regards devolution process, the Implementation Commission on 18th Amendment will finalise the last phase of seven ministries by June 30, 2011.
The devolution of ministries of Sports, environment, labour and manpower, women development, health, minority affairs and food and agriculture would be completed as per 18th Amendment. Reliable sources told Business Recorder that a cabinet meeting would be held on June 28, 2011 to give formal approval to recommendations of the Implementation Commission relating to the completion of the process of devolution.
The Chairman of the Commission, Mian Raza Rabbani, would attend the Cabinet meeting and would present recommendations before the Cabinet for approval. When contacted Mian Raza Rabbani told Business Recorder that ministries that fall under the 18th Amendment would be devolved. He assured that devolution process of the ministries would be completed by June 30, 2011.
Answering to a question, he said that the Commission would complete its work within the given time frame stipulated in the 18th Amendment of the Constitution. He emphasised that there should be no doubt as to the timing of the devolution. While on the other hand, a press release issued from Prime Minister's House stated that Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has approved the visit of an 8 member Pakistani delegation of the Implementation Commission to United Kingdom from July 3-8, 2011.
According to Press Release, the British Parliamentarians and the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Parliamentary Association, UK Branch, visited Pakistan to hold discussions on the procedure followed by the United Kingdom and Pakistan in the devolution of powers from the Centre.
As a follow-up of that visit, the British High Commission, in collaboration with Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, UK, invited a small cross-party delegation of the members of the Implementation Commission to the United Kingdom on a jointly-hosted inward visit to Devolved Assemblies and Legislatures of Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
The objective of the proposed visit would be to share experiences of devolution in different forms and to provide a framework that may prove helpful in the process of devolution and to overcome post-devolution problems. The discussions may explore how the members of the Devolved Assemblies in the United Kingdom could work with Provincial Assemblies of Pakistan in a sustained and productive partnership that would be mutually beneficial.