While it is mandatory for the prime minister to call a meeting of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) at least once in three months, but no meeting is scheduled until May 9, sources told Business Recorder on Friday. The last CCI meeting was held on February 9.
"The CCI will now have a fully-fledged secretariat on a permanent basis, meeting at least once every 90 days unless earlier convened by the prime minister on the request of a province to take up an urgent matter," sources in the cabinet said. Representatives of centre and four provinces initially sat as equals, but this was changed by President Asif Zardari on August 5, 2009, when he added ministers for communications, livestock and dairy, and petroleum and natural resources to the council to allow for "dispute resolution" with smaller provinces, particularly Balochistan.
This was a minor but significant step which could potentially make the body more effective. Under the 18th Amendment, the CCI will now submit its annual report to both houses of parliament. "The bulk of investment continues to be concentrated in Punjab, even after the new National Finance Commission Award. It is still unfair," Senator Kalsoom Parveen of Balochistan National Party (BNP) said. "Take the Saindak Project in Balochistan for example, where China takes 50 percent and the Pakistani government takes 50 percent. We are getting just two percent royalty (on the project) right now," she said.
CCI was mandated to deal with important matters for example the distribution of river water among the regions. The CCI gave equal representation to all provinces in the upper house of parliament, but this particular reform made limited or no impact since the upper house has no say in financial affairs.
The last session of the CCI ended with a fight between Sindh and federal government over the provincial right to levy taxes on services, and Balochistan was again disappointed because of bureaucratic hurdles over its Rs 100 billion gas development surcharge arrears.
"No one really takes CCI seriously any more," a former cabinet secretary said. "Hardly anything has been resolved through this forum. It's a big disappointment." Confusion between the provinces and centre over the collection of General Sales Tax continues even after the 7th NFC Award, and serious disputes on the Chashma-Jhelum Link Canal and fishing jurisdictions of Sindh and Balochistan still remained unresolved.
The 18th Amendment is analogous to Magna Carta as far as decentralisation and devolution of powers to the provinces is concerned. The amendment contains such far-reaching stipulations as the abolition of a concurrent list of subjects to give more autonomy to the provinces and allowing more than two terms for a prime minister or a chief minister.
The 18th Amendment, if properly implemented, gives provinces rights over their natural resources - a move that will address the Baloch nationalists' complaints. It also ensures that provinces will be able to run and administer their own local government systems and enter into direct financial loan or credit arrangements with external and internal lenders, the former secretary said.
Although the CCI remains intact as the main dispute-resolution body, it has become controversial because of its ineffective past and political uncertainty over the future of constitutional governance. Discussing the summary for financing gas infrastructure development schemes, the committee reiterated the decision of Energy Conference held on April 9 for banning new connections. The committee decided to consult the ministry of law on new schemes as it was pointed out that the exploration and production also fell under the domain of provinces. The petroleum ministry has proposed to take the matter to the CCI for a decision.