Finance Ministry has opposed a bill seeking a restriction on the federal government to take approval of the National Assembly before releasing supplementary grants except in case of external aggression or internal disturbance leading to proclamation of emergency.
The budget wing of Finance Division submitted its response to the Senate Committee on Finance with regard to a bill introduced by Senator Sherry Rehman, seeking to amend the Article 84 of the Constitution to require the federal government to get approval of the National Assembly before authorizing supplementary and excess grants.
The Ministry of Finance stated that it opposes the bill because it can hamper the smooth functioning of the government. Secondly, repeating the emergency-related Article 232 in Article 84 is not appropriate because the emergency has already been defined in Article 232.
"As per existing Article 84, If in respect of any financial year it is found; (i)that the amount authorized to be expended for a particular service for the current financial year is insufficient, or that a need has arisen for expenditure upon some new service not included in the Annual Budget Statement for that year; or; (ii) that any money has been spent on any service during a financial year in excess of the amount granted for that service for that year, the federal government would have power to authorize expenditure from the Federal Consolidated Fund, whether the expenditure is charged by the Constitution upon that Fund or not, and would cause to be laid before the National Assembly Supplementary Budget Statement or, as the case may be, an Excess Budget Statement, setting out the amount of that expenditure, and the provisions of Articles 80 to 83 would apply to those statements as they apply to the Annual Budget Statement".
The proposed Article 84 states if in respect of a financial year, in the event of unforeseen and unavoidable necessity it is found; (a) the amount authorized to be expended for a particular service for that financial year is insufficient or (b) that a need has arisen for expenditure upon some new service not included in the Annual Budget Statement for that financial year, the federal government would, subject to prior approval through resolution by the National Assembly, have power to authorize expenditure from the Federal Consolidated Fund, whether the expenditure is charged by the Constitution upon that Fund or not, and would cause to be laid before the National Assembly a Supplementary Budget Statement, setting out the amount of that expenditure, and the provisions of Articles 80 to 83 shall apply to that statement as they apply to the Annual Budget Statement:
Provided that in case of grave emergency in which the security of Pakistan, or any part thereof, is threatened by war or external aggression, or by internal disturbance beyond the power of a provincial government to control, or a proclamation of emergency has been issued in pursuance to Article 232, and it is found that the time to be consumed in fulfilling the condition of resolution by the National Assembly will cause huge loss to Pakistan or any part thereof, the federal government shall have power under this Article without the prior approval through resolution by the National Assembly.
Comments
Comments are closed.