PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur on Tuesday warned that his province would move the court of law to claim dues from the centre.

He also ordered the formation of a team of experts to “effectively” take up the matter with the federal government.

“In case this issue isn’t resolved by the centre, we will use all available options, including the legal action, to claim dues. Reputable law firms will be hired to plead our case in court,” Mr Gandapur told a meeting here.

The participants included adviser to the chief minister on finance Muzzammil Aslam, chief secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, additional chief secretary Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah, principal secretary to the chief minister Amjad Ali Khan, finance secretary Aamir Sultan Tareen, energy and power secretaryNisar Ahmad, and other relevant officials.

CM complains province’s NFC share not increased after Fata merger

They were briefed about the money to be paid by the centre to the province and related matters, according to an official statement.

Officials said under the AGN Qazi Formula, the centre had to pay Rs1,510 billion to the province in lieu of net hydel profit, whereas the arrears on account of theprovince’s own generated electricity provided to the national grid totalled Rs6 billion.

They said the administrative merger of Fata with KP had been completed, but the region’s financial integration with the province was incomplete, causing financial problems for the provincial government.

The officials said the province was not getting its due share of federal transfers, so it faced a major financial challenge.

They also said after the merger of Fata, the population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had increased, but its share in the National Finance Commission Award hadn’t been increased accordingly.

The officials added that the issue should be addressed to help the province claim its due share in national resources.

They said as per the current population after the Fata-KP merger, the province’s share in the NFC Award was 19.64pc but it was getting 14.62pc only.

The officials said the centre had provided the province with just Rs103 billion out of the committed Rs500 billion under the Accelerated Implementation Programme for the newly merged tribal districts.

On the occasion, the chief minister directed authorities to chalk out a strategy for taking up the province’s financial matters with the federal government.

He said all required documents, along with the plan of action on the matter, should be finalised within a month.

Mr Gandapur said all available legal and constitutional forums would be approached to claim due funds and other rights.

He later chaired a meeting of the provincial board of revenue and directed authorities to make necessary amendments to the relevant law to ensure protection of women’s inheritance rights.

The chief minister also ordered pragmatic steps for the completion of Phase I of the ongoing land records computerisation project by June 2024 and Phase II by Dec 2024.

He also said the deployment of necessary staff members at the district level should be ensured before the computerisation of land records.

Revenue minister Nazir Abbasi, senior member of the Board of Revenue Ikramullah Khan and other relevant officials attended the meeting.

Officials briefed other participants about the department’s administrative affairs, reforms, revenue collection, development projects, and related matters.

The chief minister said it was imperative to introduce reforms in the provincial board of revenue to improve service delivery to the people.

He directed authorities to ensure necessary amendments to the legal framework of the department.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2024