Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Thursday, irked by the absence of Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in the committee meeting, has written a letter to the Speaker National Assembly. The committee had directed the FBR, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and NADRA to brief the Committee regarding deduction of various government taxes on mobile cards by various telecom companies working in the country and mechanism to monitor the deductions deposited in the government treasury.
Seema Majid Member Accounting FBR presented herself as Principal Accounting Officer (PAO) in the meeting but Chairman Committee Syed Khurshid Shah refused briefing from her. Members of the committee asked the Member Accounting FBR where was Chairman FBR, she replied he was with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
In his ruling, Chairman PAC said the Chairman FBR was not exempted from attending the meeting. "If he is busy in making annual budget, they (parliamentarians) also left budget session to take up the matter of public importance," he said. He said even minister was not exempted from appearing in the meeting as per audit system and every government functionary was answerable to the parliamentary committee. Syed Khurshid Shah adjourned the session of the Committee with a direction that matter would be taken up with the Speaker National Assembly.