THE Senate Functional Committee on Devolution, in its meeting on Tuesday, raised two highly important points, which have been agitating the minds of the general public for long. It expressed indignation as to why the Government has not implemented its clear-cut directive for winding up 17 devolved ministries, warning it could summon the Prime Minister to explain the reasons for non-implementation of a binding directive on a constitutional matter. Similarly, it questioned the proposed privatization of power distribution companies, noting the high recovery rates of major DISCOs and recommending that the matter be placed before the Council of Common Interests (CCI) afresh.
Parliamentary committees are supposed to perform a critical role as they are considered as ‘mini parliament’, performing detailed legislative scrutiny, financial oversight and executive accountability that the main house cannot achieve during broad floor debates. In this backdrop, the two issues agitated by the functional committee of the upper house should have been raised much earlier as they have been there for years. However, they say it is never too late to mend and hopefully the committee will continue to demonstrate the same level of interest vis-à-vis these two issues to ensure they are addressed in line with the spirit of the constitution and overall interest of the people of Pakistan. As for the issue of devolution, PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has also been demanding, time and again, that all ministries devolved to the provinces under the famous 18th Constitutional Amendment should be abolished at the Centre to save expenditure, avoid duplication of responsibility and functions and empower the federating units in the real sense. The Federal Government wants the committee to review its August 17 directive about winding up 17 ministries but it declined to oblige and gave the Government two weeks to wind up the ministries of health, education, national food security, water resources, climate change, housing, special initiatives, culture and heritage, railways, industries, statistics, petroleum, inter-provincial coordination, narcotics and planning and development.
Of course, it will not be possible to implement the directive in two weeks as it has wider implications but the question arises as to why this was not in a gradual manner starting immediately after passage of the 18th amendment. It is a prudent demand that the Federal Government should restrict its functions to matters constitutionally assigned to it and that devolved subjects must be transferred to the provinces in accordance with constitutional scheme. The implementation will also be in line with the ongoing restructuring of the Federal Government ministries and departments. It also augurs well that the Senate body has taken the Government to task on the issue of privatization of discos, particularly in view of high recovery rates reported in Islamabad, Faisalabad and Lahore, which stand at 100%, 98% and 99% respectively. The decision to privatize the most efficient discos in the first phase of the process raises doubts about transparency of the move. What the Government or the country will gain by divesting best performing discos and retaining those incurring heavy losses? A Senator rightly pointed out that under Article 157 of the Constitution, provincial governments are responsible for distribution of electricity within their respective provinces. They can fix tariffs, impose consumption taxes and lay transmission lines besides establishing powerhouses and grid stations. With this in view, the issue of privatization of the discos should be placed before the CCI afresh as has been demanded by the Senate committee. Of course, it might affect the privatization schedule drawn by the Privatization Commission for disposal of the three discos but the logic demands all pros and cons of the matter be thoroughly considered before a final decision is taken.
