Concern has been expressed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in the recent appointment of Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) Akhtar Buland. President Asif Ali Zardari on August 23 appointed Akhtar Buland Rana as Auditor General of Pakistan on the advice of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, and Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was approached for oath taking of the new AGP.
According to sources, the Chief Justice expressed in the letter on August 25 that the President might not have been informed about the allegations against Akhtar Buland Rana at the time of his appointment. Seven charges levelled against Akhtar Buland have been cited in the letter which included obtaining Canadian nationality without government's prior permission, and travelling abroad with three Pakistani passports and two national identity cards. He was also accused of sexual assault on a subordinate woman worker during his service. He levelled wrong accusation against former Auditor General of Pakistan Tanveer Agha in Supreme Judicial Council and he never qualified for the promotion to Grade 22.
It is worth mentioning that the post of the Auditor General of Pakistan is a constitutional office and only the proceedings can be initiated under Article 209 of the Constitution once the appointment of AGP is finalised. According to Article 209 of the Constitution of Pakistan, Supreme Judicial Council consists of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, two next senior most judges of the Supreme Court (SC) and two most senior Chief Justices of High Courts. The Council primarily is constituted to hear charges of misconduct against judges of superior courts but the president can invoke the Council for initiation of proceedings against top bureaucrat holding a Constitutional office. A copy of the letter was also sent to the PM.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.