Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO), Dr Shoaib Suddle firmly believes that all the departments are corruption riddled, in some corruption is profound, while in others it is less visible. He appears determined to put a kibosh on corruption; concerted efforts are also needed on the part of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to alleviate the sufferings and agony of taxpayers.
In an exclusive interview with Business Recorder here on Thursday he said that in order to get rid of the scourge of corruption and widespread maladministration a total shift is required in the policies, as the approach is still based on old colonial systems and practices. Talking about the re-structuring of FBR, he said that there is too much concentration of powers in FBR, which gives birth to corruption. There should be separation of powers and multiple functions should not be performed.
As Ombudsman of taxpayers does not carry this bias in decision making. "I am not the Ombudsman of tax evaders' he clarified. Although holding a high office, Dr Suddle does not pose to be a prelate who lived as he pleased but a down to earth officer who has taken up the challenge to clean up the mess in this whirlpool of despair.
He said that FBR lacks the effectiveness it needs and is perhaps the most loosely monitored organisation of the country. It practically governs itself since it has the unique advantage of pushing all its legislation through the parliament in the shape of Finance Bills, with minimal debate. As FBR's work is considered to be of technical nature, public understanding is low. In terms of attitudes and organisational practices, FBR is still in the 19th century colonial mode.
Dr Suddle said that the functions of Ombudsman's office need to be spread to all corners of the country so that people know that tax functionaries could be held accountable by Ombudsman. Tax evaders also could get a beating, he said. Suddle said in January this year he had assigned Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) to locate gray areas, if any, in his own organisation. FTO had desired that TIP should carry out a third party audit to independently analyse the performance of the office of FTO. TIP is now conducting the Citizen Feedback Surveys "Report Card Study" on the working of FTO's office.
This is for the first time in Pakistan that an independent study of any public sector department is being conducted to judge the performance of an organisation, on the department's own request. The purpose of this study is to further improve the quality of service of the office of FTO, as also the tax payers confidence in this highly useful institution.
The idea of Citizen Feedback Surveys, "Report Card Study" has been replicated in many parts of the world due to its success. While spadework on the project spread over past several months has been completed, the actual research work has just begun and it is expected to be completed in three months time, ie by April, 2011.
The FTO office was established by the Government of Pakistan in the year 2000 to address grievances of taxpayers. Dr Suddle soon after being appointed as FTO initiated range of measures to ensure that the complaints were handled properly and promptly at the FTO' office. He also wanted to get independent feedback from the receiving end, which is always critical for improvement of service delivery. As the issue was linked with good governance TIP agreed to the FTO request. TIP has also helped the government and Public sector organisations in saving billions of rupees by identifying serious mal-administration and violation of rules in different projects.
Interestingly most of the PML (N's) 10 points are a replica of the national governance plan suggestions sent by TIP to the government on December 3, 2009 as under:
-- Once a civil servant retires, there shall be no extension in service.
-- Dr Ishrat Hussain committee report on pay and reforms of civil servants shall be completed and included in these recommendations.
-- Review of all appointments/promotions of BPS 20 and above and armed forces personnel shall revert to their parent service (as already ordered by CJP and COAS for their respective organisations) and termination of services of all retired personnel.
-- All regulatory authorities viz SECP, CCP, PPRA, EPA, SUP, OGRA, PEMRA, PTA, PFRA, NEPRA, etc, etc shall be fully autonomous, comprising of professionals, without any nominations from the government. They shall be financially self-generating entities, not dependent on government finances, and answerable only to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
-- No armed forces retired personnel, and technocrat is inducted in the civil services.
-- Motorway police/highway police models under use in Punjab shall also be implemented within one year in all major cities of Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan.
-- Stop allotment of all urban plots/development in Pakistan, which shall only be disposed of through public auction.
-- Promotion of civil servants shall be reverted to Public Service Commission.
-- Anti-corruption suggestions:
-- TIP-PMC at PM secretariat for independent third-party pre-award validation of procurement tenders of above Rs 50 million values is formed immediately for 12 months, and task to be transferred to Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) once the revamping of PPRA approved and notified.
-- Setting up of an accountability commission, to include civil services, armed forces, judicial services and elected representatives, reporting to PAC of the parliament, conflict of interest provisions shall be included in all public offices, as well as corporations and authorities, including board of directors of public sector enterprises (PSEs).
-- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) bill shall be passed by the parliament, and all decisions allowed under FDI act to be posted on the website of government departments, and
-- All land records in the four provinces shall be computerised within one year.