Budget scrutiny: National Assembly body on Rules hailed for approving amendment

Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) has welcomed and appreciated the approval of the amendment to give powers of budget scrutiny to Standing Committees on Rules. "This is one of the most crucial reforms required in the National Assembly as it allows public representatives to truly discharge their duties of control and scrutiny over purse strings," PILDAT said in a statement on Thursday.
The National Assembly Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges in its meeting held on November 1 approved the role of standing committees in budget scrutiny.
After approval of this amendment due in the next sitting of the committee, all National Assembly Standing Committees would be able to scrutinise, amend if necessary, and approve each ministry or department's annual budgetary proposals/ demands for grants and appropriations and development expenditure for the next fiscal year of their relevant Ministry. The amendment in rules was proposed jointly by MNAs including Khurram Dastgir Khan, Anusha Rahman Khan and had support of a large number of reform-minded MNAs under the chairmanship of Nadeem Afzal Gondal. After the approval in Rule 201 of rules and procedure of conduct of business of National Assembly, after sub-rule (5), the following new sub-rule (6) shall be added:
The standing committee for a particular ministry shall scrutinise, amend if necessary, and approve the ministry's annual budgetary proposals comprising of demands for grants and appropriations and development expenditure for the next fiscal year and any request for supplementary grant for the current fiscal year before the same are sent to the Ministry of Finance for inclusion in the federal budget for the next fiscal year. Each Ministry shall submit its budgetary proposal for the next fiscal year to its respective standing committee not later than 31st March of preceding fiscal year and the standing committee shall duly approve the budgetary proposal not later than 15th May of the preceding fiscal year."
PILDAT said such an exercise demands detailed engagement of the parliament with the budget process and this detailed engagement is only possible inside the standing committees, an exercise that most democratic countries' parliaments and standing committees perform yearly, including the neighbouring India where standing committees take 1 month to scrutinise demands for grants before the House discusses the budget. Canada offers another example, among other countries, where parliamentary committees both consult the people on what should form part of the budget and submit those proposals to the government, as well as scrutinise estimates demands for grants of each ministry.