PHC summons AGP over NFC Award

The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday summoned the Attorney General for Pakistan for the next hearing and sought a response from the National Finance Commission (NFC) on a petition challenging the failure to issue a new NFC Award. The petition was filed by former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra. The court adjourned the hearing until Nov. 11, 2026. The case was heard by a two-member bench comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Advocate General Shah Faisal Utmankhel, the petitioner's counsel Ali Gohar Durrani and Assistant Attorney General Bilal Ahmed Durrani appeared before the court. Durrani told the court that the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had significantly increased the province's population, making a revision of the NFC Award necessary. He said the 2017 and 2023 censuses had been completed and that the province's population had increased substantially. Under the Constitution, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa should therefore receive a share in a new NFC Award based on its population, he argued. Durrani said poverty, unemployment and the number of out-of-school children had also increased following the merger of FATA, making a new NFC Award necessary to support development and meet the needs of the newly merged districts. The court asked why Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had not received a new share when the petitioner's party was in power at the federal level. Durrani replied that successive federal governments had failed to give FATA its due share. He further said no new NFC Award had been issued since 2010, despite a constitutional requirement for a new award every five years. Advocate General Utmankhel told the court that no new NFC Award had been issued since the last award in 2010. He said the federal government had submitted a report stating that Rs27 billion had been released for FATA. The court asked whether FATA had its own budget before the merger, to which Durrani replied that it had. Utmankhel said the merger was intended to ensure an equitable distribution of funds and development in the region.