The Federal Cabinet has allowed sharing cabinet and cabinet committees' decisions with National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Inquiry Commission on Debt (ICD), amid Cabinet members' apprehension that this would further compromise the government's working which is already suffering from inaction due to the "highhandedness" of NAB, well informed sources told Business Recorder.
On October 22, 2019, Cabinet Secretary told the Cabinet that National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Islamabad has requested for provision of the following information and supporting documents to NAB office, Lahore, under section 19 of the Accountability Ordinance, 1999: (i) all summaries forwarded by Ministry of Industries and Production/ NFML regarding import of urea and decision of thereupon since 2012-13 onwards; and (ii) all summaries forwarded by MoI&P/ NFML regarding decision of ECC whereby the sale price of imported urea is fixed since 2012-13 onwards.
Simultaneously, the Inquiry Commission on Debt (ICD) has also requested to provide following information under section-4 of the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Act, 2017, in order to probe the debt handling and infrastructure projects during the period February, 2008 to September, 2018: (i) committee report which was placed before the ECC on November 22, 1990, ECC decision on summary and all the follow-up documents thereafter; and (ii) ECNEC's report on the impact of measures taken in 1992 on construction industry.
Under section 19 of the NAB Ordinance, 1999, the Chairman NAB or an officer of the NAB, duly authorized by him, may during the course of an inquiry or investigation ask for any information related to investigation. Section-4(b) of the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Act, 2017 also empowers the Commission to inquire about the discovery and production of any document(s). However, rule 24(8) of the Rules of Business, stipulates that all papers submitted to the Cabinet are secret until the Cabinet discussion has taken place. Thereafter, each Secretary shall decide whether the case should continue to be classified as secret and inform the Cabinet Division of his decision.
In accordance with rule 20(11) of the Rules of Business, 1973, minutes/ decisions of the meeting of the Cabinet/ Cabinet Committee recorded by the Cabinet decision are impersonal in nature and without any statement of the reasons thereof. Cabinet Division argued that the decisions taken by the ECC when ratified by Cabinet reflect collective decisions of the Cabinet and cannot be attributed to any member of the Cabinet.
The Cabinet Secretary informed the forum that the issue regarding provision of the record of Cabinet and Cabinet Committees to NAB also came under discussion during the Cabinet meeting held on October 14, 2019, but a decision was not taken in this regard.
The Cabinet Secretary solicited approval of the Cabinet to provide the requisite documents to NAB and Inquiry Commission on Debt. During the ensuing discussion members pointed out that Cabinet documents are treated as confidential documents around the world. Cabinet decisions reflect collective wisdom of the forum and should not be open to judgment by NAB or any other institution, criminalization of policymaking would not go down well, the members opined.
"Investigations into the discussions at high level forums and the individual opinions recorded in files would further paralyze the government's working which is already suffering from inaction due to the highhandedness of NAB," the sources quoted some of the Cabinet members as saying.
Another opinion was that the decisions of the Cabinet and Cabinet Committees in any matter may be provided to NAB, if asked for, however, the minutes containing discussions should be kept confidential.
Members were of the view that the NAB investigations should be time-bound and not be an unending affair, giving fuel to media trial of those who take policy decision in good faith. The source said other members stated that if NAB seeks specific information about a matter, complete information available on record should be provided to the Bureau. It was also pointed out that despite the classification of Cabinet documents as "confidential" under the Rules of Business, the NAB law was clear, and any information asked for by the Bureau, under the law must be provided to it to ensure proper investigation of a matter.
Members also said that the Cabinet discussions are robust and reflect the good intent of the government, as such there was no reason to keep them classified and the government should even consider making them public. After detailed deliberations, the Federal Cabinet decided to provide information, including minutes and decisions of the Cabinet, and/or its Committees specific to a case, whenever asked for by the two authorities.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
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