Unconstitutional measure: Rabbani decries caretakers’ ‘mini-budget’ move

Says the interim setup has no mandate to decide on financial matters.

ISLAMABAD:

No ordinances can be issued in the absence of a working National Assembly, said Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Raza Rabbani, referring to reports which said that the caretaker government was drafting a ‘mini-budget’ with increased taxes to cushion the PML-N government when it assumes office.

The National Assembly is to be sworn in within ten days. The proposed ‘mini-budget’ of Rs152 billion by the caretaker government, introduced through a presidential ordinance, stipulates a rise in taxes.

Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Raza Rabbani said that an ordinance could not be promulgated for any purpose in the absence of a National Assembly. “Such a step by the caretaker government would be unconstitutional and illegal,” Rabbani told reporters outside the Parliament House. The caretaker government’s only mandate is to conduct free and fair elections; as per the law, it could not take any decision regarding the country’s financial matters, he added.

To a question, senator Rabbani said that his party would not challenge the ordinance in any court, but would oppose it in and outside the parliament.



It is also said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was backing the caretaker government’s move in a bid to avoid criticism from the public for imposing new taxes in the next budget.

However, Senator Pervez Rashid of PML-N denied that such steps enjoyed his party’s blessing.

“I assure you that a fair policy will be adopted while introducing the new fiscal year’s budget,” he told reporters.

Earlier, Caretaker Law Minister Ahmer Bilal Soofi informed journalists that the president had introduced new taxes through an ordinance, but this was denied by Presidential Spokesman Farhatullah Babar.

Senior PPP leader Syed Khurshid Shah also said that caretaker government was taking decision which was beyond its mandate. He said that the raising of tariff and increasing electricity prices is not the function of a caretaker government.

“The caretaker government’s mandate is to hold elections and maintain security during it,” said Khurshid Shah. “No political and financial decision could be taken by the caretaker government.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2013.