Hammad Azhar Appointed As Finance Minister, Hafeez Sheikh Removed From Office

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz has said that Minister for Industry and Production Hamad Azhar has been given the portfolio of Finance Ministry in place of Abdul Hafeez Sheikh.

According to sources, the Prime Minister was also worried about inflation while Abdul Hafeez Sheikh as Finance Minister failed to control inflation. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh is also the head of the National Price Control Committee.

The second reason for removing Hafeez Sheikh is the order of the Islamabad High Court that only elected representatives can head the cabinet committee.

Following the court’s decision, Hafeez Sheikh was promoted from Finance Adviser to Finance Minister, while Hafeez Sheikh was sworn in as Finance Minister on December 10.

Under the constitution, Hafeez Sheikh was to be elected to the National Assembly or the Senate within six months. Hafeez Sheikh’s six-month term as finance minister will expire on June 9.

The Prime Minister has decided to give the pen to the elected representative for negotiations and budget with the IMF.

Sources said that Hamad Azhar is being made the finance minister in view of his double budget presentation.

The move by the federal government comes just weeks after the defeat of Abdul Hafeez Sheikh by joint PDM candidate Yousuf Raza Gilani in the March 3 Senate general election in Islamabad.

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan had questioned the retention of Federal Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh as an unelected member of the cabinet despite losing the Senate election.

The Chief Justice had said that “in real democracies, people voluntarily resign if they are not elected to public office.”

He said that action was necessary for the betterment of democracy and not just words.

He remarked that “it seems that Hafeez Sheikh will continue to hold his bag and will leave only after the work is completed”.

It may be recalled that Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, who was earlier the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance, was appointed Finance Minister in December last year.

The Prime Minister had exercised his powers under Article 91 of the Constitution to make Abdul Hafeez Sheikh a Federal Minister. Under the Constitution, the Prime Minister has the power to make any person a Federal Minister for a period of 6 months.

Although Abdul Hafeez Sheikh is not a member of the National Assembly, under Article 91 (9) of the Constitution, a person who is not elected can hold the post of Minister for 6 months and be re-elected as a member of the National Assembly or Senate. Have to be

Abdul Hafeez Sheikh could not become a minister because he was not a member of parliament, but a decision by the Islamabad High Court on December 7 forced the government to make him a minister from a consultant.

According to the decision of the Islam High Court, Abdul Hafeez Sheikh could not remain a member of the Cabinet Committees. The Supreme Court had declared the formation of the Cabinet Committee on Privatization illegal and ruled that Finance Advisor Hafeez Sheikh could not be the head of the Cabinet Committee.