MM News

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Monday appointed Shaukat Tarin as adviser to the prime minister on finance and revenue after his constitutional tenure as federal minister expired on Oct 16.

According to a notification issued by Cabinet Division, the president appointed Tarin as the adviser on the recommendation of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Tarin has been awarded the status of a federal minister in his role as the adviser.

As an adviser, Tarin cannot chair meetings of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) or other cabinet committee meetings as per a high court ruling.

Tarin was appointed as the finance minister on April 17 and his constitutional tenure ended on Oct 16. He is the fourth adviser to the prime minister after Mirza Shahzad Akbar, Abdul Razak Dawood and Babar Awan.

Tarin needed to be elected to parliament in order to continue in his post for longer than six months after his appointment. However, the government has been unable to get Tarin elected to parliament to date.

But it seems there were efforts underway to get Tarin elected to the Senate on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar’s seat as the latter still hasn’t taken the oath.

In this regard, the government issued an ordinance that made it mandatory for returning candidates to take oath within 60 days of the commencement of the first sitting of the maiden session of the legislature.

Tarin, who also held the finance ministry in the PPP government, was the fourth finance minister appointed by Prime Minister Imran Khan after Asad Umar, Hafeez Shaikh and Hammad Azhar had been given the portfolio.

At the time, the prime minister had said Tarin’s appointment was aimed at controlling inflation and increasing the economic growth rate.