PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has summoned the Attorney General for Pakistan over the failure to announce a new National Finance Commission (NFC) Award for 16 years, seeking clarification from the federal government.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel heard a writ petition filed by former provincial finance minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra.
The petition maintains that the merger of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa significantly increased the province’s population, making a revision of its share under the NFC Award necessary. It further argues that the law should provide for a new NFC Award every five years.
During the hearing, the court questioned why Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had not been granted a revised share when the petitioner’s party was in power at the federal level.
In response, the petitioner’s counsel argued that successive federal governments had failed to provide the merged tribal districts with their due financial share, regardless of which political party was in power.
Advocate General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shah Faisal Utmankhel informed the court that the federal government had submitted a report stating that Rs 27 billion had been released for the merged tribal districts. He argued that the primary objective of FATA’s merger with KP was to ensure equitable distribution of funds and accelerate development in the region.
He further submitted that, apart from the NFC Award, a separate amount of Rs115 billion had been outstanding for the tribal districts since 2023, adding that the pending amount had increased further.
Assistant Attorney General Bilal Ahmed Durrani informed the court that the NFC Award was not solely a federal government matter, as finance ministers from all provinces were also part of the commission.
The court was informed that the last NFC Award was announced in 2010.
After hearing the arguments, the bench summoned the Attorney General for Pakistan and adjourned further proceedings until November 11
