The government has sought nominations from provinces to appoint members for National Finance Commission (NFC) to revise the award for distribution of resources from divisible pool. A government official told Business Recorder on Friday that the government had asked the provinces, in writing, to give their nominations for appointing members to revise the NFC award formula.
As per constitution, the Federal Finance Minister will be the Centre's representative and chairman for NFC to preside over its meetings for distribution of resources among federating units as per agreed formula, whenever needed. The finance minister of each province will be member of the Commission. Other than finance ministers as member, each province can nominate an expert to debate and protect the right of his/her respective province in NFC award.
Distribution of resources from divisible pool is a delicate issue. In the given situation, when Pakistan is already facing difficulty in handling the issue of provincial autonomy, the nature and handling of NFC award has become an even more serious issue.
The official said the federal government is fully cognizant of the delicacy of the award and it wants early nominations from the provinces for appointing their members for NFC and decide the award formula for more funds to the provincial governments to help them have more resources for development.
The official said: "We are expecting nominations from the provinces for NFC award in the first week of July, and this would be followed by a meeting of the members to revise the exiting formula."
NFC award is a thorny issue. The federal government put in serious efforts last year and provided the provinces more than one opportunity to agree on some formula. However, despite a series of meetings they could not come to a conclusion and finally the President, under constitution, decide the issue through a provisional NFC award. The Provisional NFC award provided the provinces 46 percent share from divisible pool, promising the provinces 50 percent share in next 5 years.