IHC forms bench for National Finance Commission case hearing

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Saturday has constituted a division bench for hearing of the challenge to the constitution of the National Finance Commission (NFC), ARY News reported.

Chief Justice IHC Athar Minallah has formed the bench to hear the petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmaker Khurram Dastgir Khan.

The high court bench will be comprised of Justice Gul Hassan Aurangzeb and Chief Justice Athar Minallah.

Earlier, a single member bench of Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb had sent the case to the chief justice recommending formation of a division bench in view of the importance of the matter.

During last hearing, the single bench had allowed the petitioner to file more documents in the case. It also ordered to make the letter of Sindh chief minister regarding reservations on NFC as part of case record.

The bench had observed that it was a serious matter and also expressed concern over not submission of comments by the Finance Division.

Earlier, the petitioner’s counsel argued that the Constitution of Pakistan, explicitly states that the country is to be run by elected representatives.

He contended that nowhere in the constitution, does it state that the prime minister’s adviser on finance can be the convener instead of the finance minister.

The NFC is meant to distribute financial resources among the federal government and the provinces. It includes distribution of taxes collected by the federal government, which form a divisible pool.

According to Article 160 of the Constitution, the president constitutes the NFC after every five years for a period of five years.

Once there is a consensus of all the stakeholders on a particular formula to distribute the finances, the award is implemented for the next five years, he added.