Prime Minister Imran Khan has recently reconstituted the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet and appointed Omar Ayub Khan, the minister for economic affairs, as its chairperson to replace Shaukat Tarin.

Tarin’s tenure came to an end owing to the inability of the government to have him elected as a member of the parliament. He also lost his position in the 12-member (reconstituted) ECC that he had led for six months (April 15 to October 15). He will now attend its meetings on special invitation.

Economist Kaiser Bengali says that according the Constitution, a minister who for a period of six consecutive months is not a member of the parliament, has to part with his position. If they want to hold the office of a minister they cannot be appointed as minister again unless elected as member of the parliament. He says the same rule applies to the membership of National Finance Commission and when Hafeez Pasha was appointed its chairperson, “we went to the court”.

Another development has been that the number of the ECC members has come down from 14 to 12 as the prime minister is now occupying the finance minister’s position. The portfolios of ministers for power and petroleum have already been merged into the Ministry of Energy.

Bengali says the ECC is a very important institution which gives approval for mega-projects like large dams. This time no big project was announced may be because the government did not have enough funds to initiate one. The money it generates goes into debt servicing, he observes. Bengali says the major decisions of the ECC recently have been about exporting or importing commodities and so on. He also expresses surprise as to why Asad Umar, the minister for planning, was not appointed the ECC chairperson.

On the inability of the government to get Tarin elected to the parliament, he thinks it may be for the reason that nobody among the ruling party’s parliamentarians was ready to vacate their seat. This is in contrast to the government’s explanations regarding legal issues related to Senator Ishaq Dar’s and Senator Ayub Afridi’s seats which they were ready to give Tarin.

Journalist Khurram Hussain says the reason why Tarin has been removed from chairpersonship is obvious. He is no longer a minister and therefore he has lost control on financial matters which he controlled earlier. He had six months within which to get elected to the parliament but this could not be achieved. Hussain says the rule also applies to other cabinet committees whose heads have to be members of the parliament.

Rana said the apex court had clearly ruled in December last year that any executive function performed by an unelected member of the prime minister’s team would be deemed to have been illegal, without lawful authority and hence void.

So, Tarin will now work at a junior position and head a sub-committee which will review all ECC summaries. He is not a member of the ECC and his name is among 22 special invitees according to the notification. Although he still enjoys an important position, he will be invited to the sessions along with others.

According to Shahbaz Rana, an Islamabad-based member of the media, Ayub called the first ECC meeting with a 10-point agenda and according to a cabinet member, who talked to him (Rana), decided to constitute a sub-committee of the ECC under the chairmanship of Tarin.

“He said that all summaries of the ECC would first go to the Tarin-led subcommittee and the ECC would stamp the decisions following its approval.” This hints at the fact that Tarin will still control things and vet summaries before they get stamped by the ECC. Sources say the ECC session was limited to introductions and other agenda items were not taken up.

The agenda reportedly had included important subjects like Strategic Trade Policy Framework 2020-25, inclusion of beneficiaries under Phase-II of Ehsas Emergency Cash Programme, fuel charge adjustments for November 2019 to June 2020 determined by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) and extension of gas network or rehabilitation of network in oil and gas producing districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Rana said the formation of the sub-committee was problematic as the apex court had clearly ruled in December last year that an executive function performed by an unelected member of the prime minister’s team would be deemed to have been illegal, without any lawful authority and hence void. “Appointing an adviser with the status of a minister does not empower him/ her to act or function as a minister or to perform functions under the Rules of Business 1973,” the ruling had added.

The formation of the sub-committee in fact is being taken as an attempt to circumvent the ruling that non-parliamentarians cannot head cabinet committees. There has also been criticism of the move from the ruling party members.

Economist Qais Aslam, says the ECC is a very important institution and must not get into controversy. About three years have been wasted and the ECC has not made a big achievement, he says. He says the ECC under the PTI government must come up with plans to build bridges, roads etc and link them with the CPEC. The production of local edible oil and dependence on alternative sources of energy must also be on the ECC agenda, he concludes.

The author is a staffer and can be reached at     shahzada.irfan@gmail.com