ISLAMABAD: The lawmakers in the National Assembly were unanimous in demanding that institutions should not transgress in matters of other institutions especially the parliament and protecting the supremacy of the house is a legislator’s constitutional obligation.
Noor Alam Khan, a dissident lawmaker of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who is now heading the top parliamentary watchdog – the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) – claimed some institutions were violating the constitution in a bid to negate the powers of the parliament.
He claimed that the PAC is authorised to conduct the audit of key state institutions including the Supreme Court, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), and others under the National Assembly rules of 2007 clause 201, but it is facing issues to perform its duty.
He alleged that former chief justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar had collected billions of rupees for constructing water reservoirs under the dam fund, but no audit of the funds had yet been done.
He claimed that the “Supreme Court violated the constitution by stopping the Auditor General of Pakistan to audit the accounts for fundraising regarding Diamer-Bhasha Dam.”
“Supreme Court asked State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) not to handover accounts to Auditor General of Pakistan for audit. It is violation of Article-170 (2) and Article-66(3) of the constitution,” he added.
About ex-chairman NAB former Justice Javed Iqbal, he said the PAC had summoned him but declined to appear before the top accountability watchdog.
Referring to a scandalous video of a woman named Tayyaba Gul involving the ex-NAB chief, he said he wanted to investigate the matter.
“How the fragile economy of the country can be revived when the powerful will not pay taxes. If we, the politicians, are serious about the revival of the economy, we will have to shun our differences,” he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif seconded the PTI dissident, saying the parliament was the supreme institution and protecting its supremacy lied on the shoulders of the legislator as it was a constitutional responsibility.
Asif maintained that if a parliamentary body summoned head of any state institution, he was bound to appear before it as parliament was the supreme body.
He said that strengthening that institution was the responsibility of all, including the government and the opposition.
He said that everyone should be accountable to the parliamentary committees while recognising the supremacy of the parliament.
He said if heads of other state institutions could appear in the PAC meeting, why couldn’t the NAB chairman, adding all the political parties should stand by the PAC chairman.
He said the PAC was the most influential committee of the house, adding if someone challenged its chairman in terms of his work, and jurisdiction, “we should bring him to the house who considers themselves holy cows.”
He proposed that a special parliamentary committee should be formed to investigate that matter, adding the parliament was continuously being targeted for the last 75 years – sometimes by dictators and sometimes it was the target of 58-B which was now abolished.
He said that for the last 14 years, there had been no accident with that institution of parliament, adding lawmakers would have to stand up to protect the institution of parliament.
He said the PTI government in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had closed accountability institution as accountability was carried out in all other provinces, why was it closed in KP and the institution was locked.
He said the previous day the claimant to run the country under the constitution was exposed by the constitutional institution for submitting a false affidavit.
He said PTI chief Imran Khan kept receiving money from Israel and America. He said the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency confiscated and sent Rs50 billion of Bahria Town directly to the government, which was adjusted, against their liabilities. Property tycoon gave land for Al-Qadir University as a bribe. “We were jailed due to our affiliation with a political party,” he added.
BILL
The National Assembly passed the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the Publication of Laws of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
The bills were moved by Minister of State for Law and Justice Shahadat Awan. The House passed the bill with Majority.
The National Accountability (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022, is aimed at excluding private transactions from the scope of National Accountability.
Under the amendments, the pecuniary jurisdiction of the NAB has been fixed to take only action against mega scandals.
Besides, it has been proposed that supplementary references can only be filed with the permission of the court to expedite the proceedings of the court within one year.
As per the bill, the investigation officers shall not harass any person at the time of investigation or inquiry and they will confine their questions relevant to the investigation or inquiry or for extracting evidence.
Under the bill, the accused must be informed whether he has been summoned in the capacity of accused or witness and information be given to him to enable him to give his evidence.
Section 25 is related to protect the interest of the government that in case persons entering into plea bargain fail to make payment, pursuant to the payment approved by the court, the plea bargain agreement will become infructuous.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
Comments
Comments are closed.