ISLAMABAD (Kashmir English): The federal government has constituted the 11th National Finance Commission (NFC) for the new NFC award to distribute national revenue among the provinces.
According to the notification, the President Asif Zardari has constituted the commission under clause (1) of Article 160 of the Constitution of Pakistan with immediate effect.
A new notification has been issued, canceling the notification of July 21, 2020, which makes it clear that the National Finance Commission formed on July 21, 2020, will now be considered dissolved.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has been appointed as the chairman of the NFC with nine members of the commission.
According to the notification, the Finance Ministers of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan will be members of the commission.
In addition, Nasir Mahmood Khosa from Punjab, Dr. Asad Sayeed from Sindh, Dr. Musharraf Rasool Cyan from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Farman Ullah from Balochistan have been nominated as members.
The main objectives of the NFC are to make recommendations to the President on financial issues, including the distribution of net tax revenue between the federation and the provinces, grants-in-aid to the provinces, and borrowing powers of the federation and the provinces.
It also includes sharing of expenditure falling within the provincial purview, sharing of expenditure on inter-provincial matters, joint funding of national projects, and other financial issues as referred by the President.
The Finance Division of the Ministry of Finance will provide secretariat support to the Commission.
Experts said that for the past several years, national revenue has been distributed among the provinces under the old NFC award, and the provinces were demanding a new NFC.
Sources said that there is a proposal to make the provinces’ share in the new NFC award conditional on performance, and a clear fund allocation is also proposed for Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir under the plan.
