ISLAMABAD: The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) will start auditing the decisions and tariff determinations taken by regulatory bodies from the next month (February) and letters have also been dispatched to them. In an informal talk with media persons at the parliament, AGP Javaid Jehangir said that the audit officials would start auditing the regulatory bodies from February following directives from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Parliament.

He further said that there were 20 to 22 government departments which were refusing to provide record to the AGP for audit purposes.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) is rejecting the AGP’s demand to audit regulatory decisions of the authority, OGRA had stated that, it contravenes the constitutional provisions as well as the authority’s Ordinance and beyond the auditor’s scope.

The OGRA reiterates its stance that, the AGP is mandated to conduct the audit of the accounts of the Authority, whereas the audit of the regulatory decisions/determinations is not its mandate in accordance with the relevant constitutional provisions, as enshrined under Article 170(2) of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the OGRA said in a letter recently sent to the Cabinet Division.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021