ISLAMABAD: Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani and Deputy Speaker National Assembly Qasim Khan Suri have completed their three-year terms as President and Vice President of Board of Governors (BoG) of Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS), being replaced by Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser and Deputy Chairman Senate Mirza Muhammad Afridi.
In this context, Sanjrani presided over a farewell meeting of PIPS BoG on Monday to mark the end of his as well as Suri's three-year tenures. Chairman Senate or speaker National Assembly, as well as, deputy chairman Senate or deputy speaker National Assembly are appointed, respectively, as president and vice president by rotation for three years in accordance with Section 6 (1) of Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services Act 2008.
The said section also provides that the president and vice president shall not be from the same legislative house at a time. The functions of PIPS include maintaining the national, provincial and international data; information and statistics, to provide to the parliamentarians for "efficient performance of their duties," Section 4 (a) of PIPS Act 2008 reads.
It merits a mention here that a recently released report by Audit General of Pakistan (AGP) has revealed that retired employees of Senate were hired as consultants by PIPS management without competitive process in disregard to the laid down criteria while irregularities of over Rs100 million have been detected in PIPS accounts.
The AGP report of the audit year 2020-21 covers financial year 2019-20. It reveals that PIPS hired consultants "on request of the individual without the justified need for routine functions of the organisations."
The report unearthed that retired employees of Senate were hired as consultants on their request "just to compensate them."
These appointments were made between January 2017 and October 2020. Most of this period covers Sanjrani's tenure as President PIPS BoG. Another recent AGP report has unearthed that Senate Secretariat appointed advisors, consultants and coordinators, during the years 2018-20, without following the guidelines issued by the Establishment Division.
No record regarding advertisement, concept clearance and selection process regarding these appointments was produced by the Senate Secretariat, the report reveals. The audit recommended inquiry to fix responsibility in the matter. All these appointments were approved by Sadiq Sanjrani, the incumbent Chairman Senate.
The said AGP also unearthed irregularities of almost Rs47 million in the accounts of the Senate Secretariat including unlawful appointments, irregular procurements, non-adjustment of advances, and recoveries. This report too is of audit year 2020-21 that covers financial year 2019-20.
The AGP, in its report, has further unearthed that procurement-related irregularities committed by the Senate Secretariat caused the national exchequer a loss of Rs22 million, while the national kitty lost almost Rs25 million under the head of recoveries.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021