K-P threatens FCC move over NFC share dispute

Province seeks higher allocation after merger of tribal districts

ISLAMABAD:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government told the Centre on Tuesday that it could file a petition in the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) against all parties for not giving its due share on account of the merger of 6.1 million population of the tribal districts with the province.

K-P Chief Minister Sohail Afridi raised the issue during his meetings with the federal finance minister and the Planning minister. The three other provinces last week refused to support the interim National Finance Commission (NFC) award that K-P had demanded in lieu of the merger of tribal districts since 2018.

According to a statement issued by the Finance Ministry after the meeting, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb assured the chief minister of his full support for the resolution of all legitimate issues. The ministry stated that Aurangzeb held the meeting "in a cordial and constructive atmosphere".

Afridi met with Aurangzeb a day after a meeting was held between the heads of all the governments, the president and the military leadership to deal with the fuel crisis. The chief minister apprised the finance minister of various economic and financial issues facing the province, the Finance Ministry stated.

During the meeting, officials privy to the discussions said that the K-P chief minister raised the issue of increasing the provincial share in the NFC on account of the merger of new districts. He stated that if K-P was not compensated, it could take the matter to the FCC, said the officials.

They said that the finance minister replied that he would return to the provincial government after consultations.

The K-P finance minister had also written a letter to Aurangzeb last week, informing him about the provincial government's decision to walk out of the NFC deliberations until the matter of the merged districts was resolved. The Finance Ministry has acknowledged receiving the letter.

The K-P government expects its share in the NFC to rise from 14.62% to 18.96% after the merger of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in 2018. Last week Dr Asad Sayyed, Sindh's member of the 11th NFC, while talking to The Express Tribune said that Sindh would not back the K-P government's bid for an interim NFC award.

The 11th commission is currently working to finalise a new consensus formula for the distribution of resources between the Centre and the four federating units. The seventh award was finalised in 2010.

The provincial representative made the statement after K-P accused the three provinces of backtracking on their earlier commitments to allocate additional resources for the merged districts. The provincial government has linked its future participation in NFC talks with the convening of the main NFC meeting and addressing the new burning issue.

Under the 25th Constitutional Amendment of 2018, the tribal districts had been merged with K-P, which increased the provincial population by at least 6.1 million. K-P is demanding an increase in its NFC share and the payment of about Rs980 billion arrears since 2018 through an interim award.

Asad Sayyed said that the Sindh government would not support any attempt to pay arrears from back date. "We are ready to consider the newly merged districts as part of the 11th NFC award," he added.

The government of Punjab also said last week that the 11th NFC did not have a mandate to give an interim award. It was also of the view that the constitutionally guaranteed shares of provinces could not be changed, retrospectively.

The K-P government also asked the Centre to monetarily compensate it until consensus is reached among all the parties. The K-P's position about claiming the additional resources was close to the position of the federal government that wants the provinces to contribute to meeting the expenses of erstwhile FATA, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan by allocating their due shares in the new NFC.

Currently, the federal government gives grants to K-P to meet these expenses but the provincial government is of the view that the annual grants are far lower than actual expenditures.

The K-P chief minister also raised the issue of less payments to the province on account of net hydel profit. The provincial government apprised the finance minister that compared to Punjab, K-P gets less share. He claimed that in the last fiscal year Punjab was paid about Rs65 billion in net hydel profit compared to Rs36 billion paid to K-P.

The K-P government also demanded an additional Rs15 billion on account of meeting the expenditures on internally displaced persons affected by the military operations against the terrorists. The finance minister assured to look into these demands.

"Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb reaffirmed the federal government's commitment to facilitating provincial governments in addressing their financial challenges", stated the official handout.