Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh sworn in as federal minister

His appointment comes after IHC rules that special assistants, advisers to PM cannot be part of cabinet proceedings

ISLAMABAD:

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was sworn in as a federal minister on Friday in an oath-taking ceremony held at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.

President Dr Arif Alvi administered the oath to the newly appointed federal minister at the president house.

Shaikh assumed office as the SAPM on April 20, 2019; his appointment comes in light of the Islamabad High Court's (IHC) ruling on the inclusion of special assistants and advisers to the prime minister in cabinet committees.

On December 7, the IHC ruled that special assistants and advisers to the prime minister were not members of the cabinet and therefore, cannot be part of cabinet proceedings.

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According to sources, the premier is likely to also appoint Adviser to PM on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razzak Dawood and Special Assistant to PM on National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan as federal ministers for six months as well.

Under Article 91(9) of the Constitution, the prime minister has the power to appoint an unelected individual as a minister for six months

However, at the end of six months, that individual will "cease to be a minister and shall not before the dissolution of that Assembly be again appointed a minister unless he is elected a member of that Assembly," the Constitution states.

Shaikh, Dawood and Sultan are also likely be given Senate tickets for the elections in March next year, sources added.

In its detailed order, the IHC maintained that, “The special assistant to the prime minister is not a minister of state or a federal minister but only enjoys the status for the purposes of perks and privileges. He cannot address the parliament, nor has any executive authority vested in him. He also is not a member of the cabinet and cannot take part in the proceedings of the same,” the IHC stated in its detailed order.

However, the court stated that “undoubtedly, on special requests, persons can be called in by the committee but no person can be the chairman or a member of the committee of the cabinet, who is not a member of the cabinet.”

“The conferment of status of federal minister to an adviser is again only for the purpose of perks and privileges and the conferment does not make a person/adviser as a federal minister,” the order read.

The details have surfaced in a written order of IHC, which set aside on Monday a notification of the Cabinet Division through which Prime Minister Imran Khan had re-constituted the Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCoP) and made his adviser of finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh its chairman and two other advisers – Abdul Razak Dawood and Dr Ishrat Hussain – members of CCoP.

Through the judgment, IHC’s division bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Ghulam Azam Qambrani declared the appointments of the three advisors as chairman and the members of CCoP illegal.