CCI reconstituted

The Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination has reconstituted Council of Common Interests (CCI) with immediate effective.

According to the notification issued by the Ministry of IPC, in exercise of powers conferred upon him under article 153 of the Constitution, the President of Pakistan on the advice of the Prime Minister has reconstituted the CCI, with immediate effect from December 17, 2019 and until further orders.

The Council will constitute the following: (i) Prime Minister- Chairman; (ii) Chief Minister Punjab- Member; (iii) Chief Minister Sindh- member; (iv) Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Member; (v) Chief Minister Balochistan -Member; (vi) Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives- Member; (vii) Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination-Member and Minister for Power-Member.

On December 10, 2019 the Cabinet Division issued a notification in which Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Abdul Razzak Dawood and Dr Ishat Hussain, plus some provincial ministers, were members of the CCI - names that have been dropped in the 17th December IPC notification which, in turn, supersedes IPC's Division notification of August 31, 2018.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan has conveyed a pre-CCI meeting on Friday (today) to discuss agenda items to be considered in the next meeting scheduled for December 23 2019.

One of the key issues to be discussed in the pre-CCI meeting is Alternate Renewable Energy (RE) policy in the light of concerns raised by the Chief Minister, Sindh, Murad Ali Shah who argued that it is feared that any unilateral attempt to introduce the draft ARE Policy 2019 directly in the CCI without consultations with the government of Sindh and incorporation of its views in the summary and in the draft policy may ruin the very purpose of new policy.

Besides NHP other agenda items of the CCI are as follows: (i) amendment in Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Policy 2012; (ii) issues related to import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG); (iii) harmonization of standards and enforcement mechanism between Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) and Provincial Food Authorities; (iv) approval of privatisation of 1230 Heveli Bahadar Shah and 1223MW Balloki Power Plants owned by NPPMCL; (v) matters regarding alarming high population growth rate in the country; (vi) recommendations of the Attorney General of Pakistan concerning the Water Accord, 1991; (vi) funding of devolved vertical programs of health and population welfare; (vii) unauthorized deductions by federal government on FBR's claim on account of alleged outstanding withholding tax on vehicles and five percent service charges deducted on account of collection of withholding tax by the Government of Balochistan; (viii) unauthorized transfer of public money from Provincial Consolidated Fund (PCF) Federal Consolidated Fund (FCF) by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on the directions of FBR; (ix) guidelines for development hydrocarbon seepages;(x) report of the committee constituted by CCI on devolution of employees' old-age benefits institution and workers welfare fund to the provinces ;(xi) future role and functioning of National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and Basic Education Community Schools (BECS) to promote literacy in the country; ( xii) annual report of the CCI for the year 2016-17;(xiii) matters pertaining to higher education in post- 18th amendment scenario ;(xiv) notification of census results; (xv) draft recruitment regulations for the post of Chairman and Members of Wapda; (xvii) royalty of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) by the E&P Companies at the market value of LPG; (xviii) implementation of article 158 and 172(3) of the Constitution; and (xix ) amendment in OGRA Ordinance 2002- IMF's Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Pakistan 2019-2022 Structural Benchmark and performance criteria.