LAHORE: A petition seeking to declare unlawful the presentation of the full-year federal budget 2018-19 by the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) government in closing weeks of its five-year term, was filed in the Supreme Court’s Lahore registry on Saturday.
Petitioner Mian Athar has pleaded with the top court to strike down the budget for what he said being unlawful and unconstitutional.
He argued that the PML-N government was not entitled to unveil a budget for a year at the fag end of its tenure and added that it went beyond its constitutional authority and mandate by presenting the budget for fiscal year 2018-19.
Besides, he contended that a person who was not a member of the National Assembly presented the budget “unconstitutionally”.
The petitioner claimed the federal budget was based on mala fides and requested the court that it should be declared illegal.
On April 27, the newly appointed Finance Minister Miftah Ismail presented the budget for financial year 2018-19 amid strong protest by the opposition parties.
The opposition parties, mainly PPP and PTI, strongly opposed the presentation of the budget by the PML-N government, saying it didn’t have the right to unveil the budget for a full year. The government, however, insisted that it was entitled to present a full-year budget.
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