Islamabad April 17 2023: Acting Governor State Bank Seema Kamil has informed the Standing Committee on Finance of the National Assembly that on the instructions of the Supreme Court, the State Bank has allocated funds of 21 billion rupees for the elections in Punjab, however the bank does not have powers to disburse it.
A meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance was held on Monday under the chairmanship of Member National Assembly Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh, in which the Prime Minister of Law Nazir Tarar, Minister of State for Finance Ayesha Ghos Pasha, Deputy Governor State Bank Seema Kamil and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Tariq Bajwa also participated.
Minister of State for Finance, Ayesha Ghos Pasha, while briefing the officials of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance on this matter, said that the State Bank has no authority to spend without the approval of the Parliament and that the issue of the release of funds will be placed before the Federal Cabinet today, from where after its approval, the case will be taken to the National Assembly.
He further said that it has been decided to present the summary of the issue of funds of 21 billion rupees to the federal cabinet today.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Chairman Committee inquired whether the Finance Minister Ishaq Dar did not come to the meeting, on which it was informed by the authorities that the Finance Minister is currently in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah.
While starting the proceedings of the committee, the instructions of the Supreme Court for the release of funds of 21 billion for the elections in Punjab were reviewed. Speaking on this, the member of the committee, Tahir said, “We have said that elections in Punjab alone will be harmful for the country because whoever wins in Punjab will win in the other three provinces and (administered by Pakistan). ) Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan will also be ruled by the same party.”
Burgess Tahir said, “If you want to harm the country, then hold elections in Punjab first.”
“Should the State Bank and the Finance Secretary give funds from their own pockets?” Prime Minister Nazir Tarar said that the federal government keeps an account of every single penny of the federal consolidated fund and the finance ministry has informed that the elections. Therefore, additional funds have not been kept in the budget.
The Law Minister further said that spending twice for the sake of elections is not in the interest of the country while the National Assembly has already rejected the demand for release of funds. Burgess Tahir said that it would be against the law for the State Bank to release funds for conducting elections. On this occasion, the Law Minister said that the issue of release of funds through court order should be placed before the National Assembly because the constitutional method of distribution of funds will have to be adopted otherwise who will account for the funds of 21 billion rupees tomorrow. .
He said that if the State Bank releases the funds, will it (State Bank) be deducted from the officers’ salaries in the future or will the Governor give the State Bank? Because the question may arise tomorrow that the constitutional procedure for the release of funds has not been adopted or perhaps the legal matter has been overlooked in the court orders.
The Law Minister said, “We say that the expenses should be transparent and in accordance with the constitution.” Attorney General Mansoor Usman, while briefing the meeting, said that one method could be to spend the election expenses in the name of other expenses. .
The Attorney General informed that the Supreme Court has said that ex post facto approval should be taken after releasing the funds. However, the problem is that if the funds are not approved by the National Assembly by June 30, then who will be responsible for the 21 billion.
The Attorney General said that if this situation happens, a serious problem may arise in this regard. He said that one option is to take ex post facto approval of the funds from the National Assembly as the final approval of the funds is with the National Assembly.
On this occasion, the Minister of State for Finance said that we respect the instructions of the Supreme Court. But all institutions are bound to implement the rules. The Law Minister said that the Supreme Court has said that ex post facto permission should be taken.
On this, the Attorney General said that the National Assembly said that if they do not approve, then its ex post facto approval will become difficult. The Attorney General suggested that it would be better if approval is taken before the National Assembly.
The Minister of State for Finance said, “We send the summary to the federal cabinet in this regard.”
