K-P govt yet to present reduced salaries bill

Law minister says govt could first pass an executive order

PESHAWAR: Nearly three months after the provincial finance minister stood on the floor of the legislature in Peshawar and announced plans for cuts in salaries of cabinet members, the government has yet to follow through on that promise by introducing the relevant law in the house.

However, a senior Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government member said that their salaries were being deducted per the promised amount, but conceded that the move currently lacks legal cover under any formal communique or order.

Presenting a total outlay of the province’s current expenditure of Rs536 billion, K-P Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra had on June 18 told the provincial assembly in his budget speech that as much as Rs256 billion will be used to pay salaries of government officials.

Noting that since the federal government had announced to cut salaries of cabinet members by 10 per cent, they will more than match that, offering to slash salaries of the 11 provincial cabinet members by as much as 12 per cent.

“When it comes to sacrifice for Pakistan, this province and its leadership will be one step ahead,” Jhagra had proclaimed.

However, over two months into the new fiscal year, the government has yet to table either an amendment bill in the K-P Assembly for this purpose nor has it issued any formal executive order in that regard.

When asked, the K-P Minister for Law Sultan Muhammad Khan conceded to The Express Tribune that the government has yet to present a bill on cutting salaries of provincial cabinet members.

However, Sultan maintained that he and other cabinet members were receiving a marked down salary from the government in line with the finance minister’s proclamations on the floor of the K-P Assembly.

Asked whether a draft amendment law was in process and when was it expected, the provincial law minister stated that it was possible that the government may decide to grant legal cover to the move through an executive order.

However, he clarified that a bill to formalise the move will be presented in the assembly soon, though he shied away from providing a definitive date for tabling any such bill.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2019.