Govt issues notification for devolution of 7 ministries

Seven ministries devolved in final phase of 18th amendment implementation. Transfer to be effective from July 1.

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Thursday issued a notification for the devolution of seven ministries to provinces, with the government retaining a number of employees from the devolved ministries.

The ministries being devolved are women development, minority affairs, sports, environment, health, food and agriculture, and labour and manpower.

The notification says the transfer will come into effect from July 1. It also states that all development projects and relevant staff have been shifted to the provinces.

A number of departments of the transferred ministries will be merged with other ministries and divisions.

The Planning & Development division has been assigned to devise a national policy for environmental pollution and change, ecology, forestry, wildlife, biodiversity and desertification.

The federal cabinet had earlier approved the devolution of seven ministries to the provinces but had decided to retain the ministers in an apparent move to keep the ruling coalition intact. The devolution marks the third and final phase of the implementation of the 18th amendment and brings the total number of devolved ministries to 17.

Ten federal ministries were earlier devolved to the provinces in two separate phases on the recommendation of a high-powered parliamentary commission to ensure the implementation of the 18th amendment that envisaged more administrative and financial autonomy for the federating units.