ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has been urged to declare the appointments of Dr Hafeez Sheikh, advisor to the prime minister, Finance Division, Dr Reza Baqir, governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), and Murtaza Syed, deputy governor SBP, illegal as they have been undertaken "in a very questionable manner, devoid of transparency and accountability".
Dr Muhammad Zubair Khan on Wednesday filed an amended petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution in compliance with the apex court's order dated 15th July 2020, allowing him to amend the petition.
He cited federation through the secretary Cabinet Division, secretary Ministry of Finance, president of Pakistan, through his secretary, the prime minister through his principal secretary, Dr Hafeez Sheikh, advisor to the prime minister, Finance Division (R-No.5), Dr Reza Baqir, governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) (R-No.6), Murtaza Syed, deputy governor SBP (R-No.7), and the chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) as respondents.
The petitioner is a PhD from John Hopkins University, and has 40 years of experience in macroeconomic and trade policy-making. Since returning from the IMF in 1992 where he worked on major economies over 12 years.
He has urged the court to pass appropriate orders/directions to fix the responsibility for the "gross violations" of the Constitution, the law and the loss caused on account of their policies.
He further prayed that appropriate directions be issued mandating the rectification of wrongs, and for corrective measures obliging all responsible to act strictly in accordance with the Constitution and the law.
The petitioner maintained that the economic decision-making grossly "jeopardizes" not only future economic development but also bears a direct nexus to the daily lives of the citizens of Pakistan in the present day.
He submitted that while debt management and other issues were formulated in the Ministry of Finance, monetary systems, interest rate decision-making, exchange rate policy, the management of official reserves, and banking guidelines to name some areas in the financial sector, were made by the SBP pursuant to the decisions of the government.
He stated that the federal government was bound by legislated objects of bettering the fiscal deficit both in the short term and the long term.
"Deviation from the federal government's objectives would, by implication, constitute unsound and imprudent management by the State Bank of Pakistan, and would be liable to review by this Honorable Court. The office of the Minister for Finance has been without regularly appointed Minister since 18 April 2019. Since that time, the prime minister has been holding that portfolio. As a side arrangement, Dr Hafeez has been appointed as Advisor on Finance to the Prime Minister from 18 April 2019. His job is to advise the prime minister. However, he "arrogated" to himself the role of de-facto Minister for Finance, and has been handling all matters of national economic importance. In that capacity, he is equally responsible for the prevalent economic turmoil Pakistan is currently facing," the petitioner said.
The petitioner said that the post of governor, State Bank of Pakistan was statutory and a public office, it was also a tenure post entailing the fulfillment of the essential legal prerequisites therefore.
It is a judicially declared mandate that all fiduciary offices require compliance with prescribed processes in the interests of transparency and accountability.
He submitted appointment of respondents No 6 and 7 as governor and deputy governor were processed "discretionarily without any semblance of transparency."
"With an IMF man as governor, the IMF's influence on the choice of decisions and the framework has become stronger. In a startling move, the government subsequently appointed another serving IMF staff member, the respondent No 7, as deputy governor of the SBP in violation of the legal requirements for the appointment of a deputy governor," the petitioner said.
The petitioner stated that "in the fiscal year 2019-2020, the federal government spent the largest amount ever on any budget item in the history of the country on interest payments as a result of a self-imposed decision to raise interest rates, which was avoidable, and which was not in the economic interests of the country, and which exposed the financial system and the foreign exchange market to high risks of severe instability by encouraging the inflow of "hot money" into the country.
"This avoidable waste of scarce public funds was also fueled by continuous borrowing to finance excessive expenditures including on the mentioned interest payments at the cost of rising public debt leading to an unsustainable fiscal situation".
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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