ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on Wednesday has assigned the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) to hold a performance audit of all public-sector entities especially, subsidiaries of the Petroleum Division to evaluate the performance of their Boards of Directors and Management Directors (MDs)/Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) who have been hired on lucrative packages.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting held here under Noor Alam Khan expressed dismay over the poor state of affairs of the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Company (SNGPL) and other public-sector entities.

He said the MD SNGPL was drawing a hefty salary and other privileges of Rs7.3 million to ensure a smooth supply of gas across the country but he failed to deliver. Another Member Committee Shahida Akhtar Ali endorsed the viewpoint of the chairman and said that she questioned on several occasions about his salary package and his contribution in strengthening the gas supply chain but no response was received.

Referring to a parliamentary committee proceeding, Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees Tahir said the MD SNGPL had reluctantly disclosed his salary package.

In his ruling, the chairman PAC said the federal government should revisit the appointment of heads and at board of directors in public-sector entities from private sectors on higher salaries and other perks and privileges, rather take the bureaucrats from relevant ministries against a package of around rupees one million and they would perform better than the private sector. He said the dual nationals who were appointed at top posts could not be held accountable as they flew away after committing corruption.

He further directed the Ministry of Law and Justice to expedite all the government departments to formulate their services rules and regulations. Quoting the example of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), he said the NAB Ordinance was promulgated in 1999 and has yet to formulate services rules and regulations.

Secretary Law Raja Naeem Akbar apprised the committee that an amendment in the NAB Ordinance has taken the power of appointment of head from President of Pakistan and delegates the authority to the federal government.

The committee also directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to submit detailed reports on custom duties and other duties paid by auto manufacturers and further directed the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) management to submit their response on media reports on the theft of billions of rupee steel from the PSM.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022