SC maintains restrain on PM from taking solo financial actions

SC on August 18 ruled that the prime minister cannot act unilaterally on the country’s financial issues

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the federal government's review petition against the court's verdict that curtailed the premier's discretionary powers in fiscal matters.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar reviewed a petition filed by the federal government against the top court's August 18 verdict wherein it ruled that the prime minister cannot act unilaterally on the country’s financial issues or approve any ordinance without first gaining the federal cabinet’s approval, citing constitutional strictures.



The landmark judgment will have a far reaching impact as it has curtailed discretionary powers used by successive regimes to run affairs of government.

Additional Attorney General Waqar Rana appeared on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, however, he failed to convince the bench to review its earlier verdict which curtailed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's discretionary powers in fiscal matters. The ruling came after apex court judges heard appeals filed by the importers of cellular phones and textile goods. Through constitutional petitions, the appellants had challenged certain government decisions on sales tax.

In a 79-page ruling, the three-judge bench headed by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar also set aside the Islamabad High Court’s judgment delivered some three years ago that declared notifications regarding modification of sales tax legal.

Justice Nisar, authoring the judgment, said the federal government is a collective entity described as the cabinet constituting the prime minister and federal ministers.

“The prime minister is not constitutionally mandated to authorise expenditures on his own, and all discretionary spending without the prior approval of the cabinet is contrary to law.

“Neither a secretary, nor a minister and nor the prime minister is 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.”