Provinces assure Centre of timely implementation
By Ahmad Hassan
ISLAMABAD: All chief ministers informed the prime minister on Thursday that special cells had been set up and necessary homework done for the implementation of the 18th Amendment and assured him of their cooperation for timely completion of the process.
The provincial heads, who attended a meeting of the nine-member parliamentary commission on implementation of the 18th Amendment, said their governments were ready to do their bid for timely implementation of the 18th Amendment.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said that passage of the 18th Amendment had met the nation’s aspirations and it needed to be implemented at the earliest.
The commission was constituted by Mr Gilani to consider and recommend steps for implementation of the amendment.
The chief ministers, however, complained that the NFC award had not catered for the additional responsibilities being devolved to provinces under the 18th Amendment. They called upon the centre to transfer to provincial governments all funds and assets of the ministries set to come within their purview.
The meeting reviewed functions and responsibilities to be devolved to the provinces. The commission has been empowered to make rules or pass orders or make amendments to regulations needed to achieve the objectives of clause 8 of Article 270 (AA) of the Constitution.
The prime minister said the federal government would extend cooperation and support to the implementation commission, which had already identified areas and steps required to be taken to move forward.
The ministries and departments whose responsibilities are to be devolved have been asked to identify issues to be referred to the Council of Common Interest.
The meeting decided that assets and funds of the ministries and divisions would be properly handled and no decision would be taken without consultation of the implementation commission. It expressed the hope that the commission would complete the devolution task in time – June 30, 2011.
Mian Raza Rabbani, chairman of the implementation commission, informed the meeting that the inter-provincial coordination division of the federal government had been designated as secretariat of the CCI and the implementation commission.
He said that rules and procedures of the commission and CCI had been prepared and sent to the law division for vetting. Theses will be submitted to the prime minister and CCI for approval.
Source: Dawn
Date:6/18/2010
” 
” 
” 
” 
