ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has categorically declared that the resolution passed by the National Assembly last week urging the federal government to transfer the amount that has already been allocated and released for various ongoing development projects to a non-lapsable account cannot be implemented because of a legal hitch.

The finance minister made this assertion on the floor of the assembly during the budget debate on Tuesday when Sabir Qaimkhani of the Muttehida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) sought a clarification on the matter.

“I came to know that a resolution has been passed …. the funds cannot be made non-lapsable as of today in the presence of a law,” said the minister. However, he said, they could sit together to find a way out.

Without naming the law, the minister said the funds could not be prevented from lapsing without amending the law.

When the MQM-P member asked the minister to bring the amendment, the minister said it was not possible in the present sitting as during the budget session, they could not take up any other business than the passage of the finance bill, generally known as the federal budget.

Mr Dar said practically the executing agencies working on various projects on their own transferred the already released amounts to the accounts where these funds did not lapse.

Interestingly, when Deputy Speaker Zahid Akram Durrani asked the minister as to which law was needed to be amended, the minister said he would disclose it tomorrow (Wednesday). He further said that he would bring the relevant officers from his ministry to have a meeting with the members to find a way out.

Mr Dar warned that if the members would discuss the matter in public, they might not be able to even find a way out and the matter would be closed permanently.

Speaking on a point of order, Mr Qaimkhani had drawn the attention of the minister towards the unanimously passed resolution by the house on June 17 through which the lawmakers had urged the federal government to transfer the community head development funds, which were released on the demand of the community for various uplift schemes, to non-lapsable and ‘PLA-III’ (Personal Ledger Account) by June 30, the last day of the present financial year.

The resolution was tabled by Minister for Water Resources Khursheed Shah while interrupting the debate on the federal budget.

Mr Qaimkhani said that this year the funds were released very late and if these projects remained incomplete then the national exchequer would suffer a loss. The assembly will meet again on Wednesday (today) at 11am.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2023