K-P and ministry take row to Council of Common Interests

Operation of clause 3 of constitutional Article 172 is said to be the main source of conflict between the two.


Qaiser Butt October 08, 2010

ISLAMABAD: Divergent interpretations of the 18th constitutional amendment by the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the ministry of petroleum and natural resources has led the two to approach the Council of Common Interests for mediation, according to official sources from Peshawar.

The operation of clause 3 of the constitutional Article 172 is said to be the main source of conflict between the two, it has been learnt. The provincial government is demanding that all oil and gas resources be transferred to it from the ministry of petroleum and natural resources, according to the mentioned clause.

The legal and constitutional consultant of the K-P government, Shumail Ahmed Butt, told The Express Tribune that the ministry’s understanding of the clause – recently enacted by the 18th constitutional amendment in Article 172 – was unacceptable to the province.

“According to our interpretation, K-P is the owner of all natural resources located in the province,” said Butt. He believes that the constitution is not being followed in spirit, which has resulted in the disagreement.

Meanwhile, the ministry concerned has rejected Butt’s version on the matter. “Show me the word ‘transfer’ in the clause,” responded Ejaz Chaudhry, additional secretary of the ministry, when approached for comments.

“We have no reservations about the provincial government taking the matter to CCI,” he added. When his attention was drawn to the province’s demand that revenue being generated by the federal government from oil and gas produced in K-P be shared on an equal basis, Chaudhary said that the issue had already been settled in clause 3. According to him, the revenue being generated under the previous agreements was not subject to sharing with the provinces. However, he said the federal government would share with K-P and other provinces the revenue to be generated from new oil and gas discoveries in the provinces.

Blame game

Chaudhry disclosed that an act would be passed in parliament to implement the relevant provisions and the draft of the proposed act has been sent to the provinces to solicit their opinion.

The provinces were asked by the ministry last month to communicate their comments on the draft within 10 days but Chaudhry says that K-P was yet to respond and that it was incorrect to suggest that the ministry was delaying implementation of the 18th amendment.

Under the act, the federal government will constitute a Petroleum Concessions and Management Authority where all provinces will be represented. The body, to be headed by the director general of Petroleum Concessions, will award oil and gas exploration licences to companies in consultation with provincial representatives.

Meanwhile, Butt says that the draft has been rejected by K-P. “The draft, in its present form, is unacceptable to us,” he said.

The province is strongly opposed to the suggestion that the authority will be headed by someone from the ministry, claiming that the provinces have merely been given a ceremonial role. K-P is of the view that the head of the proposed body should be appointed on a rotational basis.

However, the consultant admitted that K-P has not communicated its views on the draft to the ministry. “We will present our point of view in the CCI meeting scheduled after two months.” He concluded that the provincial government was preparing its summary for the CCI meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8th, 2010.

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