ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has barred the caretaker federal government from overhauling the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), terming the planned initiative a “major policy decision”—and to keep it “pending for consideration by the new to-be-elected government by virtue of the general elections 2024.”

“The planned overhauling of FBR attracts the above—falls under major policy decision which is the prerogative of elected government,” read a letter, Tuesday, from Secretary ECP Dr Syed Asif Hussain to Khurram Agha, the Secretary to the Caretaker Prime Minister.

“The hon’ble caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan may be advised not to go for major reforms in FBR and to keep it pending for consideration by the new to-be-elected government by virtue of the general elections 2024,” the secretary ECP noted in the letter.

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“No doubt improvement and reformation of state-owned-institutions is one of the core jobs of the government of the day to improve the overall performance of the government machinery. However, under the constitutional scheme and intent of legislature as expressed in Section 230 of the Elections Act 2017, the scope of functions of the caretaker government has been defined,” according to the letter.

With February 8 general polls less than 10 days away, the caretaker government is facing strong backlash from serving and retired officers of the FBR for attempting to overhaul the country’s central tax machinery—a controversial move that appears to be beyond the mandate of the caretakers. Under the existing electoral laws, the mandate of a caretaker government is restricted to only looking after the day-to-day affairs of the country.

Section 230(1) of the Elections Act 2017 provides that a caretaker government shall— (a) perform its functions to attend to day-to-day matters which are necessary to run the affairs of the government; (b) assist the ECP to hold elections in accordance with law; (c) restrict itself to activities that are of routine, non-controversial and urgent, in the public interest and reversible by the future government elected after the elections; and (d) be impartial to every person and political party.

The Sections 230(2) of the same law respectively provides that a caretaker government shall not – (a) take major policy decisions except on urgent matters; and (b) take any decision or make a policy that may have effect or pre-empt the exercise of authority by the future elected government.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024