PESHAWAR: Six members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday moved the Peshawar High Court against the federal government’s failure to issue the new National Finance Commission Award after the merger of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas with the province.

They requested the court to declare that the people of tribal districts are entitled to three per cent share in the NFC divisible pool.

The petition was jointly filed by MPAs Syed Ghazi Ghazan Jamal, Shafiq Afridi, Anwar Zeb, Ajmal Khan, Mohammad Iqbal Khan and Naseerullah Khan, all from tribal districts.

They requested the court to direct the government to issue a new NFC Award as per the mandate of the Constitution and immediately release the due NFC share to tribal districts for development.

The petitioners contended that the non-issuance of a new NFC Award despite the change in legal and factual ground realities i.e., the devolution of various subjects on the provinces in the aftermath of 18th Constitutional Amendment and the merger of Fata as tribal districts in the province after the 25th Constitutional Amendment, was illegal and violated the rights of the petitioners and their constituencies.

MPAs also seek 3pc share in divisible pool for tribal districts

They sought an interim relief from the court in the form of directions for the respondents, including the federal government through the secretary of the cabinet division, to convene the periodic NFC meeting as per the mandate of the Constitution and Clause 9(5) of the 7th NFC Award issued through President’s Order No 5 of 2010.

The respondents in the petition filed through lawyer Ali Gohar Durrani include the country’s president through his principal secretary, federal government through the secretary of the cabinet division, secretary of the finance division, NFC, Council of Common Interest and National Economic Council through their respective secretaries, KP government through its chief secretary, and KP finance secretary.

The petitioners said in May 2018, parliament passed the 25th Constitutional Amendment, while the provincial assembly later approved the same merging the erstwhile Fata with the province.

They said the share of tribal districts in the NFC Award came to three per cent and had a contribution from the provinces other than Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but the federation had not yet finalised it.

The petitioners said the provincial assembly also adopted a resolution on June 7, 2021, asking the centre to grant three per cent of the NFC’s divisible pool for the development of tribal districts.

They contended that before the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the last NFC Award i.e. 7th NFC Award was issued and published in May 2010 by the office of President of Pakistan through President’s Order No 5 of 2010 and published in the official gazette on May 10, 2010.

The petitioners contended that the constitution mandated the NFC to be constituted every five years, however despite the constitutional mandate only the reconstitution of the NFC had taken place, without an actual award by the 8th or 9th NFC.

They contended that the abolition of the concurrent list, the devolution of the various subjects, post the 18th Constitutional Amendment coupled with the addition of the population of the erstwhile Fata after their merger in the province of KP were instances which required the enactment of the new NFC Award.

The petitioners, however, said no effort had been made to ease the misery of the residents of the erstwhile Fata through the grant of due share in NFC Award.

They said at the time of 7th NFC Award the census data available was that of the 1998 Census whereas presently the 2017 census data was in vogue, which had seen a massive surge in the population of KP.

The petitioners said under Clause 9(5) of the 7th NFC Award, the finance commission’s meetings were to be called at least on a quarterly basis and that those meetings took place from 2010 to 2021 almost twice every year.

They, however, said not a single such meeting had taken place since the start of 2022.

Published in Dawn, january 6th, 2023