The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government seems embarked on a strange effort to clip the wings of the office of the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP). This development has come to light through a media report that quotes the AGP office's reaction to the attempt by the government to downgrade the AGP from a constitutional office to just a subservient body of the Ministry of Finance. On December 23, 2019, the Cabinet Division notified the office of the AGP as an autonomous body of the Finance Division. This was part of an exercise to restructure the federal government. Through the same notification, the Cabinet Division also intimated that a board of directors of the AGP will be created (presumably having members from all or most of the federal government's branches) to oversee the functioning of the AGP. Apart from the constitutional and administrative issues any such redefinition of the status of the AGP raises, if the move is carried out, its immediate fallout will be on the officers of the Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service (PAAS), whom the Establishment Division initially refused to acknowledge as civil servants. The Central Selection Board is in the process of considering the cases of various civil service groups, including the PAAS officers, for promotion to grade 20 and 21. However, the Establishment Division is still seeking clarification from the AGP regarding the status of the PAAS officers. On January 3, 2020, the office of the AGP wrote to the Secretary Cabinet to point out that the scheme involving redefinition of the status of the AGP office should be based on the provisions of the Constitution, since the AGP is a constitutional body charged with the responsibility to audit the accounts of the federal and provincial governments and all other state institutions. The AGP letter also pointed out that making the office of the AGP subservient to the Finance Division is a glaring instance of conflict of interest since the Finance Division's accounts too are audited by the AGP. The letter went on to argue that the independence and autonomy of a constitutional entity such as the AGP, with countrywide jurisdiction, must be upheld by treating it on a par with other constitutional offices. The AGP office terms the government's decision as being in violation of the Constitution and the UN General Assembly's resolution of March 2012 that guarantees the independence of the supreme audit institutions of all countries.
Another interesting aspect of the affair is the role of the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms, Dr Ishrat Husain. The Cabinet Division's notification was contrary to the promises and commitments Dr Husain had extended to the AGP office in May 2019 that its constitutional status will be protected. Now Dr Husain is saying the Cabinet Division's notification was indeed an error that would be rectified. There seems to be a wide gulf between what Dr Husain has been saying and what the Cabinet Division is embarked upon. It is bizarre that the Advisor on Institutional Reforms seems to have been left whistling in the wind while the government of which he is an important part, and particularly the Cabinet Division, have chosen to ignore him. Another question that arises is about the functioning of this government. Surely they inherited a plethora of seasoned and experienced civil servants who would be in a position to point out the constitutional status of the AGP office and its role as the auditor and financial watchdog over all governments and state institutions. If such advice was available and indeed rendered, it too has been ignored a la Dr Husain. Where this confused blundering will lead is not clear, but it bodes ill for the audit of government and state institutions' finances.
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