PAC decides to digitise record

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament has decided to digitalize entire record of the committee since adoption of the 1973 Constitution. A special subcommittee of the PAC met here on Friday under the chairmanship of Member of National Assembly (MNA) Riaz Fatyana. The meeting directed the secretary PAC to devise and review Public Accounts Committee related rules and regulations as per the requirements of the modern era. He said that the record of all the 16 national assemblies constituted after the passage of 1973 Constitution should be digitalized in a bid to enhance performance of committee.

The chairman committee said that separate rules and regulations are needed for the PAC which is the most important committee of the Parliament and consists of the members from both the Houses. He said that all the actions taken by the PAC during a year must also be laid down before the both Houses of the Parliament, so that the people can know about the performance of the PAC.

The officials of the PAC Secretariat while briefing the panel on worldwide practices said that the PAC of the Australian parliament has altogether separate set of rules and regulations with records dating back to decades. The officials said that PAC Secretariat in Pakistan should also have same pattern.

In new recommended rules for PAC, a separate sub-committee for media was mentioned in which media will also give suggestions to the committee about improvements, Riaz Fatyana added. He said media subcommittee would monitor social media consisting of Facebook, Twitter and web blogs, etc. He said the PAC should present an annual performance report to the National Assembly for perusal of all parliamentarians. He also suggested hiring the services of financial and accounting experts on the payroll of Public Accounts Committee. "There should be 7 to 10 MPhil level financial and accounting experts in PAC," he remarked. He also suggested the main committee that members should not be part of the meeting of PAC in which the audit paras of time of their governments come under discussion.

He said in new rules, it has been suggested to take up public petition as well regarding misappropriation of funds in the ministry as well as complaints regarding their performance.