Hafeez Shaikh sworn in as federal minister

ISLAMABAD: Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was sworn in as the federal minister on Friday.

President Dr. Arif Alvi administered the oath to Hafeez Shaikh, who has been serving as the adviser to the prime minister on finance, at a ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad.

He was sworn in as the federal minister in the wake of the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) December 7 ruling that held that unelected advisers and special assistants could not head government’s committees. The court had set aside a notification regarding the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) headed by Dr Shaikh.

Though mostly elected representatives i.e. members of the National Assembly or Senate can be appointed as federal ministers, a clause in the Constitution provides for a short-term appointment of non-elected ministers.

“A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the National Assembly shall, at the expiration of that period, cease to be a Minister and shall not before the dissolution of that Assembly be again appointed a Minister unless he is elected a member of that Assembly,” reads the clause nine of Article 91 of the Constitution.