ISLAMABAD: The finance ministry on Saturday issued a clarification regarding the use of the federal consolidated fund which had come under discussion during the hearing of polls delay the case in the Supreme Court. This announcement comes after concerns were raised during a recent hearing regarding the political atmosphere and economic challenges facing Pakistan. The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial expressed concern over the disregard for maintaining a respectful political atmosphere by political parties and warned of consequences if they did not respect this guarantee. During the hearing, Justice Munib Akhtar also questioned the amount of money the government had in the federal consolidated funds and how much the budget deficit would increase if Rs20 billion were spent. The finance division has stated that expenses cannot be incurred without the approval of the National Assembly (NA) and the prime minister. It also linked the usage of the funds during a financial year with authorization from the competent authority. The officials said that the sum cannot be transferred to any other account without approval. Further, the division instructed the public departments and all related institutions to strictly implement the rules while adding that complete details of a project were required for expenditure from the allocated budget. DNA
