Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pervez Khattak has said that his government was making all-out efforts towards good governance, changing the old mindset, making public office holders accountable and taking steps for transparent accountability across the province. This he stated while presiding over two different meetings of Select Committees on Ehtesab Commission and Prevention of Conflict of Interest in the provincial assembly here today.
Deputy Speaker KP Assembly Dr Mehar Taj Roghani, Minister of Law Imtiaz Shahid Quershi, Minister PHE Shah Farman, Special Assistant to CM for Information and Public Relations Mushtaq Ghani, MPAs Sardar Hussain Babak, Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha, Advocate General, Secretary Law, Secretary Establishment, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister and others attended.
The meeting form two different committees comprising provincial ministers and MPAs for giving final touches to the rules and regulations and the time-frame to make the Ehtesab Commission and its working within the regulatory framework and finalise the mode of recruitment from top to bottom. The DG will have the execution and operational functions and the commission would have to be apolitical in all its procedural and operational functions. The committee will frame rules and regulations with 15 days while all other autonomous bodies within 30 days.
The Chief Minister in his comments called upon the participants to remove the weaknesses in the procedures rules and regulations so that these could be incorporated in the relevant laws. The DG age should fall between 45 to 65 and the selection criteria should be merit based and transparent. However if there is no DG then an officer amongst senior officers of the Directorate General will be selected to run the official businesses. The commission will probe up to five crore rupees corruption cases, however it will take all cases of corruption and would evaluate them and if these are petty nature cases would be referred to anticorruption department.
The Chief Minister formed a special committee comprising law minister, MPA Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha, Secretary Establishment, Advocate General etc that will prepare and present final recommendations within 15 days. Regarding the conflict of interest law, the Chief Minister directed for corruption free and transparent and open governance in the province. He said that the law should ensure that no one including the politicians and government officers could draw benefit out of it. There should be rule of law and the misuse of resources and power should stop. Nobody should use it for his benefit, he added. Pervez Khattak said good laws should not be seen an obstacle in the smooth functioning of the government. The essence is preventive measures, he asserted.
Chief Minister commented that there will be zero tolerance to irregularities and corrupt practices. He asked the committee members to prepare their recommendations as his government wanted to use collective wisdom for the benefit of the province and its people. The committee will comprise, Law Minister, Special Assistant to CM on information and public relations, MPAs Sardar Hussain Babak, Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha, Advocate General, Secretary Law, Secretary Establishment attended.