Hafeez Shaikh removed from National Finance Commission

ISLAMABAD: The government has removed Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh from the National Finance Commission (NFC), it emerged on Wednesday.

A notification in this regard was submitted by Attorney General Khalid Javed to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) during the hearing of a plea filed by PML-N’s Khurram Dastgir challenging the formation of the new commission by President Arif Alvi in May.

During the hearing today, the attorney general told the court that the notification which was being challenged had already been taken back by the government and a new one had been issued in its place.

“We have already issued a new notification which nullifies the previous one,” Javed told the court. “According to the new notification, Hafeez Shaikh is not part of the commission.”

“I also had issues with the last NFC notification,” he said, adding that the court should declare Dastagir’s petition as null and void.

To this, PML-N MNA Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha responded by saying that their objection was to the NFC being formed without consulting them. “It is our victory that we got the government to work according to the Constitution,” he noted.

The court after hearing the arguments wrapped up the appeal.

On May 12, President Alvi had finalised the 10th NFC award which would decide the share of financial resources earmarked for provinces.

A notification issued in this regard had said Federal Finance Secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch would serve as an expert for the commission, while Shaikh would preside over the commission’s functions in the absence of a finance minister.

On May 28, Dastagir had challenged the formation of the new commission in IHC. A month later on June 24, the Balochistan High Court had declared President Alvi's notification regarding the constitution of the commission as null and void and declared that the members’ appointment was not in accordance with the Constitution.