ISLAMABAD: The formation of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) remains incomplete, as the upper house of the parliament failed to elect its six members before its prorogation on Friday.
Ishaq Dar, in his capacity as Leader of the House in Senate, was scheduled to move a motion on Monday under Rule 172F of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 2012 to elect the six senators nominated by Chairman Senate Yousaf Raza Gilani for PAC membership.
However, this motion was not carried in the Senate sittings due to Dar’s absence from the country for two days - 7 August (Wednesday) till 8 August (Thursday) - to Riyadh to attend the Extraordinary OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) meeting. He did not attend the Senate session on Monday, Tuesday and Friday.
The motion has been deferred till the next Senate session, which implies that PAC will remain incomplete till Senate meets again and adopts the motion, Business Recorder has learnt.
Shibli Faraz (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-PTI), Sherry Rehman (Pakistan Peoples Party-PPP), Saleem Mandviwalla (PPP), Afnan Ullah Khan (Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz-PML-N), Mohsin Aziz (PTI) and Aon Abbas Buppi (PTI) are the six nominations for PAC. Three of these senators belong to PTI, two to PPP and one to PML-N.
Rule 172F of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 2012 provides for the Senate to elect six members for PAC in National Assembly; one from each province, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (now merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), out of which three shall be from the treasury benches and three from the opposition benches.
But, contrary to this rule, two senators each of the six nominated lawmakers for PAC represent Punjab, Sindh and KP.
Khan and Abbas represent Punjab, Rehman and Mandviwalla represent Sindh, and Faraz and Aziz represent KP.
The relevant rules empower the chairman Senate to amend any rule on any given pretext. Using this power, the chair can allow the election of the PAC nominees even if they are not in accordance with the Rule 172F, it is learnt.
Under the Rule 202 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 2007, the PAC shall not have more than 23 members to be elected by the NA. Including the six senators, this number becomes 29.
These rules empower PAC to scrutinise the governments’ accounts and take action accordingly.
Meanwhile, on the last day of the Senate session that continued for barely half an hour on Friday, Law Minister Azam Tarar, in response to a question posed by Masroor Ahsan from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), said that 57 trade and investment officers were posted at Pakistan’s trade missions across the globe.
The senators also paid tribute to Pakistani Olympian Arshad Nadeem for winning gold medal in javelin throw in the Paris Olympics. The Senate stands prorogued.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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