By Special Correspondent
ISLAMABAD: The finance ministry will submit a ‘compliance’ report to the apex court today (Tuesday) regarding the release of funds worth Rs21 billion for elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as per the court order.
Moreover, the ECP will also submit a report to the court today if Rs21bn has become available to it. The Supreme Court had, on Friday ordered the State Bank of Pakistan to release funds worth Rs21 billion for polls in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and also send an “appropriate communication” to this effect to the ministry of finance by April 17 (Monday). “The sum of Rs21bn shall be and become available to and with the election commission in immediately releasable and utilisable funds for the purposes of holding the general elections to the Punjab and KP assemblies,” read the court order.
The court further observed that the required funds could be made available to the ECP “immediately and within a matter of a day”. It further noted that there was “absolutely no difficulty or hitch, either financially or procedurally or in terms of the relevant authorisation by and under the Constitution” in immediately releasing the funds in question.
The order for the release of the said funds were earlier given by a three-member apex court bench, comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan in the April 4 verdict.
The federal government was directed to provide Rs21bn to the Election Commission of Pakistan to conduct elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa by April 10, and also directed the Commission to provide a report to the top court on whether or not the federal government complied with the order, on April 11. The ECP, in a one-page report submitted on April 11, told the court about the government’s reluctance to release the amount needed for the elections.
The government, meanwhile, referred the matter to the Parliament to decide. A day earlier, the parliament defied the Supreme Court order by refusing to issue the funds for the elections in two provinces.
Subsequently, the court issued notices to the secretary finance, governor SBP, Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Awan and the Election Commission, directing them to appear before the judges in chamber on April 14. It also directed the central bank to submit the record and details of all the monies whatsoever of the federal government lying with or under the control, custody or management of the SBP.
In line with the court’s directives, the AGP, Deputy Governor SBP Sima Kamil, finance secretary and officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan, in an in-chamber hearing briefed the three-member bench on the federal government’s failure to disburse Rs21 billion in funds for elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The briefing lasted for more than an hour in the chamber of Chief Justice Bandial with Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Munib Akhtar also in attendance.
Supreme Court order
The three-member bench’s order said that keeping in view the figures presented to the court by the SBP officials, “of which even the smallest ran to several hundreds of billions of rupees, it became clear that the disbursement of Rs21 billion for fulfilling the constitutional mandate of holding the general elections would, at most, amount to a minuscule increase in the obligations of the federal government. “Indeed, viewed from certain financial perspectives and contexts, which were stated by the team from finance, the amount would be so insignificant as to not even amount to a rounding off error.”
The three judges observed: “In our view, on an assessment of the presentations made by the State Bank and the Finance Ministry/Division, there can be no doubt that the Rs21bn required by the commission and ordered to be made available in terms of para 5 of the [April 4] order can be done immediately and within a matter of a day.”
The court directed the central bank to allocate and release Rs21 billion from “Account-I lying under its control and management (and which constitutes the principal component of the Federal Consolidated Fund)” for elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The top court further directed the central bank, ministry of finance, Accountant General Pakistan Revenue and the Election Commission of Pakistan to “act together and coordinate fully so that the order and direction of the court is implemented within the stipulated timeframe”.
The apex court had also sought a compliance report from the ministry of finance by April 18 (today), which “shall also include a confirmation in relation to AGPR”. Moreover, it directed the Election Commission to also submit a report by Tuesday (today) that Rs21 billion has “become available to it in terms as stated above”.
With regards the federal government, the three-member bench stated: “We may also note that this order shall be deemed sufficient authority for all purposes for the authorisation of expenditure on the Federal Consolidated Fund and the federal government shall thereupon obtain the ex-post facto approval and sanction from the National Assembly for authorisation of this expenditure in terms of Article 84 and other applicable provisions of the Constitution”. The court then adjourned the matter to the extent of the funds for polls in Punjab and KP.
However, in a subsequent development on Monday, the Shehbaz-led coalition government managed through the National Assembly the rejection of its own demand for the provision of Rs21bn as a supplementary grant to the Election Commission of Pakistan for holding elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, thus nullifying the top court’s third directive for the release of funds for the purpose.
