PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday constituted a special committee for a detailed discussion on the KP Laws Amendment Bill, 2024, which was returned by Governor Faisal Karim Kundi over objections about the move to equate the chief minister’s advisers and special assistance with the ministers.

The development came during a session chaired by Speaker Babar Saleem Swati.

The speaker said the governor had returned the bill and wanted it to be reconsidered by the house.

He read out the governor’s message about the bill, which read, “After careful examination of the proposed bill, titled KP Laws Amendment Act 2024, he is constrained to withhold ascent and return the bill to the KP Assembly for reconsideration.”

Law minister insists legal cover will be provided to CM aides as they hold several departments

The governor noted that the bill proposed inclusion of advisers and special assistants, where the word minister appeared in the existing law, rules and regulations, notification or all other legal instruments. “This blanket amendment appears to lack any clear justification or identified need.”

The governor insisted that as per the Constitutional framework, advisers and special assistance were not members of the cabinet and couldn’t exercise executive authority, which was the prerogative of elected representatives serving as ministers, and that they’re not accountable to the provincial assembly, a fundamental principle ensuring democratic oversight of the executives.

He added that ministers, as elected representatives, enjoyed constitutionally-defined status and direct accountability to the legislature and the public. “Equating advisors and special assistance who lack electoral legitimacy with ministers, raises serious constitutional concerns,” he noted.

According to him, the KP Government Rules of Business, 1985, which derives legitimacy from the Constitution, govern the formation and functioning of various committees, he said adding that extending powers and privileges to the unelected individuals under these provisions risks disrupting cabinet functions enduring the constitutional role and responsibilities of ministers, and would be clearly unconstitutional.

“Given the broad and undefined scope of the amendment, the assembly must reconsider its necessity scope and constitutional validity. A more focused approach, based on demonstrable need, would be preferable to the current generic proposal,” he said.

The governor pointed out that in order to ensure compliance with Constitutional provisions, the KP Amendment Bill, 2024, was being returned to the provincial assembly for reconsideration.

During the session, opposition PPP member Ahmad Karim Kundi said that special advisers had never been elected.

“During PTI government, Hafiz Shaikh was nominated for NFC meetings as an adviser, so people filed a writ petition in the court objecting that Shaikh was not a federal minister to chair the NFC meeting,” he said.

The lawmaker said the provincial government didn’t have a finance minister and if an unelected person was sent to a committee’s meeting, the federal government would stop him from attending it.

He added that people would go to the court as the ministers were replaced with advisers and special assistance in the Act.

“It will be much more effective and appropriate to reconsider the apprehensions and concerns of the governor KP,” he said.

Member of the opposition JUI-F Adnan Khan said that he had proposed amendments but they were not considered.

“Advisers and special assistance are not part of the cabinet,” he said, wondering how an unelected person could be held accountable.

MPA Hussain Laghmani said that the committees were part of the house and unelected persons attending the meeting, was contrary to the definition of democracy and supported the opposition benches that unelected people should not be part of the cabinet or proceedings of the house calling it against the Constitution.

JUI-F member Maulana Lutfur Rehman said that the 26 Constitutional Amendment was passed after consultation with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

In response, law minister Aftab Alam Afridi told the house that the main objective of the amendment bill was to provide legal cover to the advisers and special assistance as they held several departments and chaired meetings.

He said that there were 34 departments and the advisers and special assistance helped the chief minister adding that the advisors were covered under the Constitution, while the special assistants were covered under Rule 33(A) of Rules of Business.

“I suggest the formation of a special select committee for discussing the bill before the next session and the seekingof the advocate general’s opinion to satisfy us. The entire house could be taken on board,” he said.

Mr Afridi said according to Article 16 of the Constitution, any matter for reconsideration could be returned with or without amendment by the provincial assembly.

“As far as the 26th Constitutional Amendment is concerned, an advocate general could speak on the floor of the house that covered advisers and special assistance,” he said.

The minister said under Article 131 (11), five advisers could become part of the cabinet and there was no mention of elected or unelected persons.

Former speaker of the assembly Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani also supported the opposition’s objections to the bill and asked the law minister if he would sit in a meeting chaired by unelected persons.

He said the bill should be sent to the select committee for a detailed discussion.

The house also unanimously passed a resolution, which demanded of the provincial government to recommend to the federal government to fulfil the promises made regarding the development of merged tribal districts. It also called for the provision of funds promised by the federal government and other provinces.

The resolution, moved by MPA Ajmal Khan, read that the new National Finance Commission Award be announced and the payments regarding the war on terrorism be made.

It also said that the federal and provincial governments should provide three of the federal divisible pool funding to the provincial government for development of the merged tribal districts, bringing them on par with developed areas.

Minister Afridi, however, said that the federal government would never announce a new NFC Award as it increased KP’s share in national funds from 14 per cent to 19 per cent.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2025

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