THE attempt by several PPP MNAs to bring to parliamentary attention the federal government’s extended delay in convening the Council of Common Interests is a welcome move that may just cause the government to take at least one of its constitutional responsibilities more seriously.

Despite a constitutional provision stipulating that the CCI must meet at least once every 90 days, the group has not met since last May.

The CCI is an arcane platform, but its powers and potential impact are anything but. As set out in Article 154(1) of the Constitution, “The Council shall formulate and regulate policies in relation to matters in Part II of the Federal Legislative List and shall exercise supervision and control over related institutions.”

Know more: PPP asks govt to convene CCI meeting

Part II of the Federal Legislative List covers everything from the census to supervision and management of public debt and from the railways, ports and electricity to national planning and national economic coordination.

The government itself appears to be aware of the practical need to convene the CCI, with meetings scheduled at least twice in recent months but then not held for reasons not explained by either the Ministry for Inter Provincial Coordination or the Prime Minister’s Office, the prime minister being the chairman of the CCI.

Now, there is a fresh meeting reportedly scheduled for this week and perhaps, with the matter being taken up in parliament, it will finally be held.

Just a sample of the more than one dozen items on this week’s agenda further underlines the CCI’s relevance and importance. The population and housing census is to be discussed, as is the permanent absorption by the provincial governments of federal government employees transferred under the 18th Amendment.

In addition, amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code; the Indus River System Act, 1992 (which deals with water distribution between the provinces); and the federal petroleum policy are to be discussed.

Each one of those agenda items could consume an entire meeting by itself. Now, owing to the tardiness and neglect of the federal government, they are all on the agenda of the same meeting.

The neglect of the CCI also underlines a wider problem: the PML-N government’s almost total lack of interest in institution building and preference for ad hoc, extra-parliamentary and extra-institutional decision-making.

Contrast the number of committees (under NAP to discuss constitutional amendments, or to consider talks with the Taliban once upon a time) the government has either created or kept active with the institutional mechanisms it has relied on.

The lack of interest in the proceedings of the National Assembly, the virtual shunning of the Senate, the sidelining of parliamentary committees — it is all of a piece in a system where the federal government prefers to take decisions in small, informal forums and then gets the formal institutions to rubber-stamp those decisions.

Published in Dawn March 17th , 2015

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