provinces, but with this and with certain other matters such as the treatment of the subject of foreign trade and foreign aid, the making of grants to Provinces, interprovincial trode. etc., I shall deal separately a little later.
The West Pakistan Dissolution Order 1970 provides that six autonomous bodies in the West Wing shall be managed by the President on behalf of the four Provinces, In the light of their operations during the course of the year it has been found that it should be possible to dissolve three of these corporations and their functions transferred to the four Provinces. These autonomous bodies are-the Agricultural Development Corporation, the Small Industries Corporation, and the Associated Cement Company. The arrangements envisaged in the Dissolution Order will now be restricted to the West Pakistan Railway, West Pakistan Power and Development Authority, and the West Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation with a restricted role confined to such important and basic industries which are of common interest to the four Provinces in the West Wing.
By the Constitution the Centre will assume responsibility for protecting each Province from external aggression and internal disturbance, and for ensuring that its operations are conducted in accordance with the Constitution. For the implementation of this responsibility, two special provisions have been found necessary. One is that whenever the Central Government is satisfied that the Government of a Province cannot be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, it may authorise the Governor of the Province to assume to himself all the functions of the Provincial Government. Such a condition will not be permitted to last beyond one year. A provision has also been made for the Central Government to exercise measure of control over a Province when it is afflicted with financial stability. As you are aware such provisions exist in many constitutions.
The subject which has most agitated the minds of the people concerns the relations between the Centre and the Provinces and the extent of provincial power consistent with the integrity and unity of the country. Consequently, it provides the Centre with responsibility in specified fields while all the residuary powers are with the Provinces.
Financial autonomy is an essential element in any scheme of provincial autonomy. Provinces should have command over their financial resources. The present position where the elastic sources of revenue were mostly with the Centre giving little scope to the Provinces to mobilise resource for their development has been radically changed under the new Constitution. The extremists, have, no doubt, advocated that the Centre should have no authority to levy any tax. This position is obviously unacceptable because if financial independence is essential for the Provinces, it is equally essential for the Centre to enable it to discharge its obligations under the Constitution. The new arrangement in the Constitution, therefore, provides for the complete transfer of the following sources of taxation to the Provinces in addition to the existing provincial sources of taxation:
1. Sales Tax.
2 All Excise Duties other than those on petroleum and tobacco manufacture.
3. Estate and Succession Tax.
4. Gift Tax.
