A parliamentary body on Wednesday observed that the National Accountability Bureau (amendment) Bill 2015 seeking to limit the jurisdiction of NAB to only federal government departments, should remain pending till the establishment of autonomous accountability bureaus in all provinces.
"Out of the four provinces, only Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has so far established provincial accountability body, KP Ehtesab Commission, therefore amendment to the NAB Ordinance at this time would be inappropriate," said Muhammad Javed Abbasi while presiding over a meeting of Senate's Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights.
He said that he had recommended to call home secretaries of all provinces to hold further deliberation over the bill during the next meeting. "We are not against the establishment of independent commission in provinces to fight against corruption but the approval of the bill which seeks to limit jurisdiction of NAB only to federal government departments would create problems," he added.
Senator Muhammad Ali Saif said that Pakistan was graveyard of redundant laws, therefore, making new laws is not the solution of the problems and efforts were needed to implement the existing laws. About the NAB Ordinance, he said that no doubt there was a problem of duplication of jurisdiction but under the law all provinces should make their independent commission.
However, he said that the KP Ehtesab Commission had been challenged in Peshawar High Court (PHC), so we need to wait for the court decision as the matter was presently sub-judice. Senator Farooq H. Naek said that following 18th amendment anti-corruption was not included in the federal legislative list so provinces can make legislation in this regard. "First we need to find out whether NAB Ordinance or corruption fall within the ambit of criminal law or not," he added.
Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq said that why the matter related to the jurisdiction of NAB was not resolved during the passage of 18th amendment. "Who will guarantee that the accountability bureaus in the provinces would not be used for political purposes as there is serious reservation over the KP Ehtesab commission," she said.
Senator Saif said that corruption was a crime and according to his opinion NAB ordinance is a criminal law. Secretary Ministry of Law and Justice said that corruption did not mean trade or business but it was a crime. He said that as prosecution was carried out both in corruption and criminal, so accountability law was a criminal law. A NAB official said that if the bill, which seeks to limits jurisdiction of NAB to federal government, then NAB would not be able to investigate a single case of corruption as provincial government officials provide information to the bureau.
He said that no issue had so far cropped up between NAB and KP Ehtesab Commission and even both have referred corruption cases to each other. Senator Taj Haider, mover of the bill, while briefing the committee regarding the bill said that the main objective of the bill was to set up autonomous accountability bureaus in all provinces to fight against corruption. "The subject of anti-corruption is a residuary subject and there is a need to constitute autonomous accountability bureaus at the provincial level. Legislation to this affect is underway in provinces and in Sindh a draft law to constitute independent anti-corruption body is ready," he said.
The Committee also asked NAB to freeze accounts, stop transaction and seal offices of illegal housing societies in the city and submit a report in this regard within one month. Abbasi directed CDA to write letters to NAB and FIA within four days to take action against illegal housing societies. The committee also directed CDA to make three categories of illegal housing societies ie the scheme occupied by the residents, start of construction and only sale transactions.
CDA Member Planning accepted that there was a big lacuna in the rules and CDA did not take timely action to stop mushroom growth of housing societies. The meeting was also attended Senator Kulsoom Parveen, Senator Zahid Khan, Secretary Law, Chief Commissioner ICT and Additional Secretary Interior.
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