The decline of the Planning Commission as an important decision making body coincided with the fall of Ayub Khan’s government. The first major blow to the power and authority of the Planning Commission came during the government. After Khan (1969-71) when serious planning was almost given up by the government. After March 1969, the Third Five-Year Plan was virtually abandoned.
The publication of the Fourth Five-Year Plan in 1970, to cover the period of 1970-75, was given very little credibility because of the political conditions prevailing in the country at that time.
The government of the Pakistan People’s Party, which followed the collapse of the military government, continued to be extremely suspicious of the Planning Commission and, in the early years, it was almost totally ignored.