PESHAWAR – The Peshawar High Court directed the federal government onWednesday to respond to a petition, which challenged the appointment of DrAbdul Hafeez Shaikh as Advisor on Finance for violating different clausesof the Constitution.
A PHC bench comprising Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice MussaratHilali sought the government’s written response by May 21 on a petitionfiled by freelance journalist Shahid Orakzai.
The petitioner requested the court to declare the appointment of Dr Shaikhas unconstitutional and announce that it contravenes the laid-downprocedure for discussion on the federal budget.
He also pleaded the court to declare that Dr Shaikh wasn’t authorised toact as the federal finance minister and that he can neither attend thecabinet’s meetings nor can he sign any foreign agreement on behalf ofPakistan, Dawn News reported.
The petitioner held Dr Shaikh and federal government through the lawsecretary as respondents and inquired if any adviser could function as thefederal finance minister under Article 93 of the Constitution.
He argued that the finance minister instead of an adviser to the primeminister was empowered to present the imminent federal budget in theNational Assembly, which is scheduled to be announced in the next few weeks.
The petitioner said a minister was bound by the Constitution to take oathfrom the president of Pakistan but Dr Shaikh didn’t take any such oath.
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The petitioner admitted that as an adviser, Dr Shaikh was permitted byClause 2 of Article 93 of the Constitution to participate in parliamentaryproceedings, but he couldn’t present the budget in the National Assembly.
He pleaded that Article 160 of the Constitution clearly declared that theNational Finance Commission comprised the federal finance minister andother members, while Article 88(2) of the Constitution stated that thefinance committees of the National Assembly and Senate consisted of financeminister and other members.
Orakzai said the constitutional provisions had declared several functionsof the federal finance minister that an adviser couldn’t perform.
Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh was appointed as the Adviser on Finance after AsadUmar stepped down from the post last month. Umar is all set to lead theNational Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance now.
