Commerce Ministry has reportedly sought the federal cabinet''s powers for the Commerce Minister, Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan for any amendment to the Import Policy Order (IPO) and Export Policy Order (EPO) aimed at resolving routine matters within the Ministry, well informed sources in Cabinet Division told Business Recorder.
The federal government, in exercise of the powers conferred to sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Import and Exports( Control) Act, 9150, (XXXIX) of 1950), through the Import Policy Order (IPO) and Export Policy Order(EPO) lays down the rules which regulate the import into and export out of Pakistan respectively.
The sources said, since the Rules of Business assign the function of "imports and exports across custom frontiers" to Commerce Division, the authority of the federal government has been typically exercised at the level of the Minister for Commerce in terms of any matters relating to IPO and EPO.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan in civil appeals No 1428, 1436 of 2016 held as follows: (i) Neither a Secretary nor a Minister nor the Prime Minister are the federal government and the exercise, or purported exercise, of a statutory power exercisable by the federal government by any of them, especially, in relation to fiscal matters, is constitutionally invalid and a nullity in the eyes of the law. Similarly, budgetary expenditure of discretionary governmental expenditure can only be authorised by the federal government ie the Cabinet, and not the Prime Minister on his own; and (ii) Rule 16(2) which apparently enables the Prime Minister to bypass the Cabinet has been declared ultra vires by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
According to sources, the Ministry of Commerce maintains that after the Supreme Court''s ruling, it is no longer tenable to use the powers of the federal government except in the manner prescribed in the decision. On the other hand, waiting for the approval of the cabinet for such routine matters will have a serious impact on the speed of the decision- making besides consuming considerable time of the federal cabinet. After explaining background, Commerce Ministry has proposed that in line with the spirit of the policy, the words "Federal Government" in the provisions of the Import Policy Order and Export Policy Order may be substituted with the words "Federal Minister for Commerce".
Cabinet Division, sources said, has sent the summary of at least 20 Ministers besides Secretary to the President, Secretary to the Prime Minister and Military Secretary to the Prime Minister, saying that the summary is being circulated in terms of Rule 17(b) read with the Rule 19(1) of the Rules of Business, 1973. Accordingly, the summary has been circulated for recording opinions of the Cabinet members.
The sources maintained that the Cabinet Division further stated that "If a Minister does not communicate his/ her opinion according to the deadline, it shall be assumed that he/ she accept the recommendations contained in the summary". Presently, it is mandatory for the Commerce Ministry to seek Prime Minister''s approval and amendment to the Import Policy Order or Export Policy Order except condemnation in age of imported used vehicles.
The Commerce Ministry is not the first Ministry which has approached the federal cabinet to get the powers of Prime Minister for the federal cabinet. Earlier, Finance Minister, Senator Ishaq Dar, who is considered as "de facto Prime Minister" in several instances, obtained powers to appoint the members of Board of Directors (BoD) of all the organisations/departments which fall under the administrative control of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Other Ministries and Divisions are also expected to follow the Finance Ministry and Commerce Ministry with respect to getting powers for the appointment of BoD members for organisations falling under their administrative control as well as in other matters.