ATTOCK CEMENT PAKISTAN LTD. vs PROVINCE OF BALOCHISTAN S — 2026 PLD 29 FEDERAL-CONSTITUTIONAL-COURT

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ATTOCK CEMENT PAKISTAN LTD. VS PROVINCE OF BALOCHISTAN S.3---Balochistan Finance Act (I of 2020), S.7---Constitution of Pakistan, Arts.141, 142(a), 142(b), 142(c), 175F(3) [as inserted by Constitution (Twenty-seventh Amendment) Act (XXXII of 2025)] and Fourth Schedule, Entry No.44 [as amended by Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act (X of 2010)]---Petitioner (cement manufacturer) was served notice to pay enhanced excise duty on minerals---Legislative competence of Provincial Assembly to amend federal charging provision and revise rates of excise duty, challenge to---Vires of law---'Labour welfare' as provincial subject, effect of---Doctrine of pith and substance and double-aspect legislation, applicability of---Overlap of fiscal mechanism with welfare object---Scope---Brief facts of the matter were that Petitioner company was a cement manufacturer and was served with a notice by the Mines Labour Welfare Department, requiring payment of excise duty on minerals to the Labour Welfare Commissioner at revised rates introduced through the Balochistan Finance Act, 2020; its three representations for revision were declined, whereafter it filed constitutional petition before the High Court, which was dismissed, leading to filing of petition before the Supreme Court, which was transferred to the Federal Constitutional Court---Pivotal issue for determination before the Supreme Court was as to "whether the Provincial Assembly had legislative competence to amend Section 3 (charging provision) of the Excise Duty on Minerals (Labour Welfare) Act, 1967 through Section 7 of the Balochistan Finance Act, 2020 by enhancing/revising the excise-duty rates, or whether such amendment was beyond provincial domain?"---Held: Preamble of Excise Duty on Minerals (Labour Welfare) Act, 1967 clearly reflected the legislature's intention to advance labor welfare and as if for larger "public interest"---The objective of the 1967 Act, as revealed through its preambular language, was undoubtedly oriented toward the advancement of labour welfare; a domain constitutionally entrusted to the Provinces---Even if, by a rigorous reading of the preamble and the operative provisions of the 1967 Act, one was to conclude that its dominant character lay in the collection and imposition of a duty of excise, its underlying purpose still could not thereby be ignored---Such a conclusion merely revealed an overlap between two constitutional competences: the federal authority to levy excise duty and the provincial responsibility to advance labour welfare---Such an overlap did not warrant the Supreme court to invalidate the statute on this ground---Viewed from the fiscal aspect, the imposition of excise duty squarely fell within federal legislative competence; viewed from the "public interest" aspect, the advancement of labour welfare lay well within the provincial domain---Consequently, both enactments stood on firm constitutional footing, not in conflict but in constitutional harmony, each valid in its own aspect---Accordingly, the 2020 Act was sustained by applying the settled doctrine of "pith and substance" and "double aspect legislation", read in light of the Constitution's post-Eighteenth Amendment commitment to cooperative federalism---The impugned statute neither encroached upon nor displaced federal legislative authority; rather, it operated within a constitutionally permissible overlap to advance a legitimate provincial objective---Its fiscal mechanism served as an ancillary means to realize a substantive purpose squarely rooted in labour welfare---To strike down such legislation would have been a rigid and formalistic approach, inconsistent with constitutional design---The Act, therefore, represented a lawful and harmonious exercise of legislative power---Leave was refused and present petition was dismissed, in circumstances.

ATTOCK CEMENT PAKISTAN LTD. vs PROVINCE OF BALOCHISTAN S — 2026 PLD 29 FEDERAL-CONSTITUTIONAL-COURT

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