Utilisation of discretionary funds: Counsel for former Prime Minister asked to identify law

The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the counsel for ex-premier Raja Pervez Ashraf about the law under his client was permitted to utilise discretionary funds for PWP-II. Appearing before a three-judge bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in a matter pertaining to the utilisation of Rs 47 billion against the total budgetary allocation of Rs 22 billion by Raja Pervez Ashraf from his discretionary fund for PWP-II, Wasim Sajjad argued that his client exercised his constitutional right to allocate funds.
Amicus curiae in the current matter, Khawaja Haris told the bench that there was no Constitutional provision for Prime Minster's discretionary fund, saying public money could not be utilised for the benefit of any particular person or certain groups. Citing the Constitutional provisions and Rules of Business, Haris said it was not the Prime Minster but the Federal government that had the powers to authorise expenditure from the Federal Consolidated Fund. Haris further said that supplementary grant was subject to approval of the Ministry of Finance, saying if an administrative department had to satisfy the Ministry of Finance clearly why a supplementary grant was not part of annual Budget, and there was an urgent need to seek the grant.
Responding to a bench's inquiry, Haris said that Principal Account Officer of every department was responsible to any violation of the provisions of Rules of Business. The Chief Justice observed that the Cabinet was the right body to utilise discretionary funds. He further revealed that development funds should be spent on voters who elected their representatives for the Provincial and National Assemblies.
Iftikhar Gilani, the counsel for the petitioner in Balochistan development case, pleaded that parliamentarians had to show the need for funds to complete development projects in their respective areas. Abdul Qahar Khan Waddan, leader of Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party Balochistan, filed a petition regarding illegalities in development schemes last year.
Citing the examples of some other countries, Gilani argued that funds were released to district authorities and not the individuals. He claimed that Fauzia Behram, ex-MPA of Pakistan People's Party (Parliament-arians), had spent Rs 4.2 million development funds on the construction of a swimming pool, a car parking and a boundary wall. The hearing of case was adjourned till July 22.