Audit objections: PAC decides to move reference against Supreme Court registrar

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) decided on Tuesday to forward a reference to Parliament against the Registrar of the Supreme Court for not appearing before the committee to explain about audit objections from 2004 onward.
Addressing a news conference after an in-camera session on the issue, Chairman PAC Nadeem Afzal Chand said the internal meeting discussed a single point agenda - the refusal of the SC registrar to appear before the committee and it has been unanimously decided to move a reference before Parliament in a couple of days.
He said that the PAC has also decided to request the National Assembly to extend the duration of the current session, convene a special session or joint session of both the Houses for quickly deciding on the matter. When asked why PAC has not taken the decision and referred the matter to the Parliament, he said that PAC did not take the decision because it was a matter between Parliament and the Supreme Court and PAC wanted the entire Parliament to decide on the matter and not of few members. The PAC chairman stated that it was not a tussle between the institutions, instead it was a matter of constitutional supremacy. He said that the PAC was not referring the matter to Parliament for discussing conduct of judges, but a report under the Rule 234 is being referred to the National Assembly regarding the SC registrar's decision of not appearing before the PAC on audit issue.
Nadeem Afzal Chand stated that the audit issues pertaining to appropriation and grants of the apex court had been pending from 2004 onward, and the. Chand also said that the committee could have summoned the registrar, but preferred not to do so to avoid a confrontation. He also claimed that PAC and political parties were unified to uphold the supremacy of Parliament and could go to any extent to ensure it. The PAC was against allowing exemptions to any institution because such a precedent would encourage other institutions to demand a similar treatment, he said.
The chairman PAC maintained that there is consensus among all the political parties that the Constitution was supreme and stated that leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan had first written a letter to the SC registrar to appear before the parliamentary committee in this regard.
Chand said that it would be up to parliament either to amend the Constitution, exempting the court, file a reference against the registrar or take contempt notice. He said that the basic function of Parliament was to approve budget allocations for various departments and organisation and it had the right to seek details of their accounts. He said that the PAC had been constituted to oversee financial matters of all institutions which had been provided taxpayers' money.