LAHORE - For the second time in the present budget session which concluded on Thursday, the Punjab legislature was gracious enough to grant a supplementary sum of Rs168 billion to the Punjab Governor to meet his expenditures.
But he will have to spend this amount like a spendthrift child before June 30, 2017. After this date, all the un-utilised funds would lapse and reversed back to the exchequer.
Before this, the Assembly had granted a staggering sum of Rs 1970 billion to the Governor on June 2 to meet different expenditures in the coming fiscal year starting from July 1, 2017. In this case, he has one full year to plan and expend the money granted to him by the legislature.
However, Punjab Governor Malik Muhammad Rafique Rajwana is not aware of his becoming a filthy rich all of a sudden. It is because he is currently under treatment at a London hospital for his heart ailment. He underwent an open heart surgery on Wednesday last and is stated to be in good condition. This was his third heart surgery in the last 10 years. May he get well soon to enjoy the fortune he now sits on.
But this is not for the first time that Punjab Assembly has approved such a huge sum of money for the governor. This practice is going on since years. But one should stop for a moment and think if he really is the man who sanctions all government spending? May be someone else does in his name since the provincial governor is merely a figure head under the Constitution. Blessed in fact is the chief minister and those sitting in the Civil Secretariat. The governor always does what he is asked to do by the chief minister. And in case of financial expenditures also, the chief minister would never bother to take him into confidence. Provincial government spends billions without his approval though the entire budget is approved in his name. So much so, all the postings and transfers of senior officers are undertaken in the name of governor.
It is a strange paradox that all the good and bad things are undertaken in the name of governor though he is not actually doing anything. Perhaps this is how the official business is done.
Fortune also smiled on the assembly staff on the concluding day of the budget session. In her wind-up speech on the supplementary budget, Finance Minister Dr Ayesha Ghous Pasha announced an honorarium equal to their two-month salary for their supportive role in the passage of the new budget. Nonetheless, the assembly members who came from far off places to attend the session were left high and dry. They will only be getting the TA, DA etc as per routine. As the minister announced two-month salary for the assembly employees, a member of the PML-N women brigade, Rukhsana Kokab quipped in Punjabi: “Tay saday lie keyay” (Is there anything for us). She also prompted other members to join her voice, but the next moment the sitting was over.
These days, Punjab Minister for Law Rana Sana Ullah is seemingly suffering from “I don’t care” syndrome. His other symptoms include: “Who the hell are you?” and “What you want, I don’t care”. Otherwise known for his witty conversation, the minister seemed a bit jittery on Thursday on such a trivial matter. May be the JIT proceedings against the Sharif family have made him so.
Yesterday, the parliamentary reporters were forced to boycott the traditional dinner hosted by Finance Minister Ayesha Ghous Pasha due to law minister’s insistence on having a separate arrangement for them outside the assembly.
It is customary that finance minister throws dinner on assembly members and the journalists at the end of every budget session. It is in fact an opportunity for the journalists to interact with the ministers and the legislators to improve their understanding of issues relating to finance and governance in the province.
Law minister created stink about lack of space in the assembly cafeteria and was not ready to listen to any argument. He also reportedly rejected a proposal by finance minister’s staff to organise the event at another place (90-Shara-e-Quaid-e-Azam) close to the assembly.
“Should I throw the honorable members out of the cafeteria and let the journalists in,” was the prompt reaction from the law minister when a senior journalist argued with the minister that it would not be appropriate to keep out the journalists.