Public Accounts Committee meeting presided by MNA Noor Alam Khan at the Parliament on May 23, 2023. — Twitter/@NA_Committees


Public Accounts Committee meeting presided by MNA Noor Alam Khan at the Parliament on May 23, 2023. — Twitter/@NA_Committees
  • Committee takes strong notice of registrar’s absence.
  • PAC chairman says all institutions are audited.
  • Noor Alam Khan questions SC about no audit of dam fund.

ISLAMABAD: After the Supreme Court registrar failed to attend a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), he was given the last chance to appear for an examination of the audit of the apex court expenditure, reported The News.

The registrar, on whose behalf the deputy registrar appeared, has also been asked to brief the committee on the dam fund created by former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar.

The committee has, therefore, taken a strong notice of the registrar’s absence directing him to ensure his appearance. Member of the National Assembly and the committee’s Chairman Noor Alam Khan, during a strong-worded protest, said the Constitution should be torn up and thrown away if the Supreme Court did not conduct an audit.

He said even the audit of the army, atomic energy and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was done, asking if the apex court was outside Pakistan.

“In America, China, India and Canada, all institutions, including the Supreme Court, are audited,” he said.

Questioning the absence of the registrar, he asked why did he not attend the committee meeting. “We are not calling anyone here for humiliation,” he said.

Khan added that the principal accounting officer of the Supreme Court was the registrar and he was supposed to tell the committee about the accounts of Mohmand Dam and Diamer-Bhasha Dam.

“We have to ask whether the permission to open the accounts was taken. If the registrar had come, it would have been fine. We are sitting here for the supremacy of the Constitution not for fighting,” he remarked.

The committee’s chairman said the apex court registrar sent two letters, stating that he could not attend the committee meeting.

Expressing his displeasure, MNA Sheikh Rohail Asghar remarked, “The registrar should avoid choosing such words. He has forgotten that politicians never retire.”

The deputy registrar told the committee that he was there to respond to the questions.

In the last election, the PAC chairman said, the chief justice asked them for details and they, along with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), submitted the same.

“We respect the Supreme Court very much. I don’t know if there is any other law for you,” he said.

The deputy registrar said there was an impression that the apex court was not audited, which was totally incorrect, as the country’s top court did its internal audit. “There are no audit paras of the Supreme Court,” the deputy registrar told the committee.

Khan asked the deputy registrar whether permission was taken while opening the dam fund accounts.

“Earlier, it was said that this fund will be audited and now it is being said that there would be no audit,” he said.

The PAC chairman asked the finance secretary to tell the panel whether the Supreme Court had sought permission to open the dam fund account. In response, the finance secretary said the dam fund account was opened in May 2018 and after that its name was changed three times.

He told the committee that the dam fund accounts were with the accountant general, while the supervision rested with the apex court registrar. He said according to the law, the Supreme Court could open an account.

Khan said the deputy registrar’s presence proved that they recognised the committee, but the letter written about the non-appearance of registrar spoke otherwise. “An arrogant tone has been adopted in the letter. I am of the opinion that we should take it [this letter] to the Parliament and follow whatever decision comes from there,” he said.

He said the Deputy Registrar Sher Afgan was heard because he had a clean past. Barjees Tahir suggested that if the registrar did not come to the committee, then not discussing the dam fund accounts amounted to ridiculing the committee.

However, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said it was not a good idea to send the letter to Parliament, as the deputy registrar had represented the apex court. “I am satisfied with the conduct of the Supreme Court and deputy registrar,” he said, adding, “We don’t need to open more fronts.”

“We should say ‘good to see you’ when the registrar comes and should also say the same to the deputy registrar, who is there to represent the registrar,” he said.

He suggested that no one should make it a matter of ego to appear before the committee. “The presence of the deputy registrar proves that he has recognised the PAC, so we should avoid further confrontation,” he suggested.

The committee chairman said, “We have made sacrifices for the independence of the judiciary and even faced jails.”

Asghar said everyone in the committee had two faces and two narratives and now praises were being showered on the Supreme Court. Saying this, he left the committee meeting in protest.

The law secretary said regular audit of the Supreme Court was being done and the audit was still going on and auditor general’s office was also looking into the objections.

PAC chairman said he did not want a confrontation with the Supreme Court adding that the registrar should appear before the committee and allow the auditor general’s office to conduct the audit.

“This is not our plea but according to the Constitution, I also have the authority to issue warrants for anyone,” he said.

The law secretary told the committee that as far as the matter of arriving was concerned, the registrar should have attended the meeting.

Addressing the deputy registrar, the committee chairman said: “Please convey our message to the chief justice. The Supreme Court’s job is to interpret the law and ours is to legislate. We neither want any kind of favoritism nor do we want our disrespect.”

Khan conducted voting and majority of the members favored giving last chance to the registrar for appearing before the committee.

The State Bank of Pakistan submitted the details of Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dam Fund to the committee. As per the central bank, the dam’s fund has a total of Rs17.71 billion and not a single penny has been utilised.

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