The Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has spurned the federal government’s invite for the Council of Common Interests’s (CCI) conference despite the meet on critical energy crisis constitutionally overdue by two months.
Several officials privy to the development further divulged that the federal government has notified the Punjab government for a meeting. And it is the Punjab government that has been found shy of responding to that request. This not only has raised the prospect of Punjab’s voice going unheard on this important national forum but also puts in jeopardy important issues related to the province’s electricity generation, Pakistan Today has learnt on good authority.
The CCI is a constitutional body established under Article 154 of the constitution of Pakistan and deals with the subjects reflected in Part II of the Federal Legislative List which, among others, also includes electricity.
This moreover is the forum where grievances between the centre and provinces or province-to-province can be put to the table and resolved. For the uninitiated, all chief ministers are Council members while an equal number representing the federal government is nominated by the prime minister, who chairs it. As for the rules of procedure, the constitution says: “the Council [of Common Interests] shall have a permanent Secretariat and shall meet at least once in ninety days”. An urgent meeting can also be convened by the PM to deal with an extraordinary situation or to on the request of a province.
The CCI last met in February this year, some five months ago – that makes it an overdue of around two months from the mandatory period mentioned in the constitution. Seeking anonymity, opines a senior legal eagle in the Punjab government’s pay: “The constitution clearly says that the CCI should meet every three months but it is silent on what to do when it doesn’t”. To a question on Punjab’s refraining to attend, in defence he says: the cabinet is a constitutional body but remain absent from the cabinet meetings without invoking any legal consequences. Pakistan Today has learnt that most issues initiated by the Punjab government in the CCI involve electricity generation. And these have been pending ever since the last CCI meeting. The critical issue involves power generation through sugar industry and maintenance of public sector power stations – both could help in ameliorating plight of the people from load-shedding.
Several officials individually confirmed that in the last CCI meeting there were some heated exchanges between the Punjab CM and other members. This has prompted the disgruntled CM to stay away from the next gathering in a fit of pique over, what he considers, the federal government’s ‘rigid’ attitude in yielding to the province’s demands.
A senior official in the Energy Department further said, last year former PM Yousuf Raza Gilani insisted that after the 18th amendment the provinces can generate electricity and the cap of 50MW on provincial generation also stood removed. “There is an element of distrust between the stakeholders over apprehensions that provinces may create an issue over pricing once the electricity generation commences. That is one reason why no one is taking the lead”, said another official. Yet another political reason, one insider claimed, Shahbaz Sharif does not want to attend the meeting chaired by PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf for it might have a bearing on his public image – supping at the PM’s high table while setting up office in a camp in protest over power outages don’t mix together.
That sounds rational, especially when the PML is said to have plans to use the same camp as an election ploy by moving it from town to town to show up the PPP.
While grandstanding remains a priority with the Punjab CM and most political entities, common folk continue to suffer.
Implementation and Coordination (I&C) Secretary Syed Mubashar Raza expressed his ignorance over the issue. “The CCI meets as per schedule and everyone will know when it meets next,” he said, adding that he was not aware of the reason for the delay.