ISLAMABAD: The Sup­reme Court is likely to take up a petition, moved to seek a directive for announcement of the Provincial Finance Commission Award (PFCA) by chief ministers for distribution of resources at the grassroots level in accordance with the respective local government laws, it emerged on Friday.

Moved through Raja Munawar Ahmed — a former parliamentarian who remains associated with issues of devolution of financial and other powers to local governments — the petition had pleaded that the unbridled and unchecked discretionary powers with regard to the allocation of financial resources of the state, encroached upon by the chief ministers of the four provinces, be declared illegal, unconstitutional and against the fundamental rights of the public at large.

When initially moved, the petition was returned by the court office with some objections, which step was challenged and was taken up subsequently by senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Mushir Alam.

After a detailed hearing in his chamber, Justice Alam overruled the objections and ordered the court office to fix the matter before the apex court for proceedings.

During the hearing, the petitioner appeared in person before Justice Alam and pleaded that the use of discretionary powers by the chief ministers with regard to allocation and disbursement of development funds on political basis be limited.

He contended that under Article 156 of the Constitution, the president was mandated to constitute a National Economic Council (NEC) comprising the chief executive of the federation, representatives of the provinces and any other members as nominated by the chief executive.

He argued that NEC was an important constitutional body mandated to review overall economic condition of the country, formulate plans with regard to financial, commercial, social and economic policies and also to ensure balanced development and regional equity, etc.

The petitioner contended that the meeting of the NEC was required to be held at least twice a year and was responsible to submit annual report to each house of the parliament.

He pleaded that the purpose of the NEC was to have uniform development for urban and rural populations of the country in a coherent and equitable manner. But in violation of the constitutional mandate, the financial resources were being distributed disproportionately and even the cities generating substantial funds were being deprived of their due shares in the financial outlay by the provinces.

The petitioner said the local governments formed the third tier of the state in terms of definition of the State under Article 7 of the Constitution, but these were the most deprived when it came to distribution of financial resources.

He also sought a court directive for the respondents to use the financial powers strictly in accordance with Article156(2) of the Constitution, read with all enabling provisions of the document and the law.

Moreover, the respondents should be ordered to defreeze the local governments’ funds after declaring their freezing as illegal and unconstitutional and direct all the federal and provincial bureaucratic hierarchies to utilise the funds at the district and tehsil/taluqa levels for the betterment of various areas without any restriction, said the petition.

It also sought a directive that the practice of discretionary allocation of development funds by the chief executives of the provinces had been done away with.

The petitioner also asked the court to order the federal government to ensure that the future NFC award is balanced, comprehensive and formulated under Article 156(2) through the PFCA, in accordance with the law and Constitution.

In his order, Justice Alam observed that the questions raised through the petition related to obligations of each organ of the State in terms of Article 5 of the Constitution that commands loyalty to the State and obedience to the Constitution.

Because the financial rights and interests of the citizens were involved, the petition should be considered by the Supreme Court in terms of Article 184(3) of the Constitution, the order added.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2021