The Ministry of Finance has finalized the ''Federal Consolidated Fund and Public Accounts (Maintenance and Operations) Bill, 2017'' for submission to the cabinet for approval. Sources said the draft law is ready for approval of the finance bigwig and soon after getting his nod, it will be put up to the federal cabinet for approval.
They added that Finance Ministry was directed by the Senate Standing Committee on Finance to take immediate steps for making legislation in respect of the federal consolidated fund and public account as required under Article 79 of the Constitution. The Finance Ministry was also directed to submit a monthly compliance report.
A committee headed by additional finance secretary (budget) and comprising joint secretary (regulations), joint secretary (budget and implementation) as well as co-ordinator budget & account officer each from controller general accounts (CGA) and AGPR was constituted to frame the draft legislation. The committee had held various meetings from February 24, 2017 till November 02, 2017 to formalize the draft law by taking assistance from representatives from Ministry of Law & Justice and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on legal and other related issues. The Ministry of Law & Justice suggested, "Federal treasury rules are issued under government of India Act 1935 which fall under Article 79 of the Constitution of Pakistan."
The above-stated article demands for an act of Parliament and also provides rules as a stop gap arrangement. The Finance Division seeks to know the modus operandi of converting the rules into a bill and any reference to a rule or sub-rule may be changed into section or sub-section.
The Finance Division may also like to incorporate amendments, if any, in the present rules while transforming these rules into a bill. Further procedure for legislation is given in Rule 16 read with Rule 27 of the Rules of Business, 1973."
As a result of discussions during the meetings, first draft law was prepared by the sub-committee and it was circulated amongst all members of the committee on June 22, 2017 with the request to offer their views/comments/input by June 30, 2017.
The last meeting of the committee was held on November 2, 2017 under the chairmanship of secretary finance. In this meeting, the representative of Ministry of Law & Justice discussed the bill thoroughly and decided to make a few additions in it before sending it to the Ministry of Law and Justice for vetting.
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