The chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) came under severe criticism during a meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Finance, which was irked by his persistent absence. On Thursday, the Senate Standing Committee on Finance met with Senator Saleem Mandviwalla to take the legislation proposed by the government as well as private member bill and it observed that bureaucracy is giving little respect to the Parliament as was evident from the FBR chairman's protracted absence from the meetings of the Committee.
"We have requested him a number of times to ensure his presence in the meetings of finance committee," said the committee chairman. However, he did not attend the committee meeting, he added.
The committee cannot accept justification given by him that he could not attend the meeting of the parliamentary committee because of his meeting with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. "This is totally unacceptable," said the chairman while other members of the committee fully supported him in this regard.
"This is not an excuse that any other meeting was more important for him than the meeting of the finance committee," Mandviwalla said, adding even a meeting with the prime minister can not be given importance over parliamentary committees' meeting. "I want to write a letter to the chairman FBR that if he does not come to the committee meeting, the committee will move a privilege motion against him," he said.
Officials of the FBR said that they would convey sense of the committee to the chairman.
The meeting was attended by Senators Ilyas Ahmad Biliour, Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari, Ayesha Raza Farooq, Saud Majeed, Sardar Fateh Muhammad Hassani and Mohsin Aziz, besides senior officers of the Ministry of Finance and FBR.