ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) Chairman Daniyal Aziz on Monday said the Constitution did not oblige the federal government to transfer the 47 subjects mentioned in the concurrent legislative list to the provinces.

Addressing a press conference at the NRB Headquarters, he rejected claims of opposition parties in Balochistan that under the 1973 Constitution, all 47 subjects relating to the administrative, financial, legislative and legal provincial powers had to be transferred automatically to the province from the centre by 1983 (10 years after the Constitution’s enactment). “There was no such provision in the Constitution to abolish the concurrent legislative list,” he claimed.

“We have gone through the Constitution and all relevant documents but we did not find any law compelling the centre to transfer these 47 subjects to the provincial governments,” the NRB chairman said.

He said the government had prepared provincial autonomy package, especially for the ‘most neglected Balochistan province’, to empower them to take their own administrative, financial, legal and legislative decisions.

“This is for the fist time in the country’s history that the due provincial autonomy is being given to provinces and all legislations and laws hindering the transfer of powers are being abolished,” Mr Aziz said.

He said Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, secretary-general Mushahid Hussain and Senator Wasim Sajjad, who is also chairman of the parliamentary committee on Balochistan, had been briefed on the package.

The NRB chief said the package carried seven points but he did not elaborate them saying they were about administrative, financial, legal and legislative autonomy of the provinces.

He hinted that under the package, the centre would transfer the collection of general sales tax, octroi and service charges to provincial governments.