Sidelined: Accounts office no longer under AGP

President appoints Asif Usman Khan as Controller General of Accounts.

ISLAMABAD:

President Asif Ali Zardari has appointed Asif Usman Khan as Controller General of Accounts after the government separated the cadres of accounts and audit – a move that could trigger a new controversy and deepen the rift between the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) and the government.

AGP Akhtar Buland Rana no longer enjoys authority over the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) office. According to a notification, the CGA office has been placed under the functional authority of the finance ministry.

AGP’s office has claimed that the decision is meant to abolish pre-audit checks the AGP exercises on payments – but the finance ministry contends the step was taken to modernise accounts services and to stop the AGP from intervening in matters. The AGP had been accused of posting corrupt officials against key positions in the CGA office.

Furthermore, the AGP called the decision a ‘conflict of interest’, the one that amounts to giving a free-hand to the finance ministry, which, according to him, has miserably failed to ensure sanctity of the budget. It will also undermine the AGP authority, and the finance ministry will no longer be subject to pre-audit checks.

According to the notification, President Zardari appointed Asif Usman as the CGA with immediate effect and until further notice. However, without a secure tenure, the CGA is said to be vulnerable to political pressures.

Through another notification, the federal government also separated the cadres of Audit and Accounts. Under the notification, the AGP can no longer intervene in transfers and postings in any office under the CGA control.

The CGA office is responsible for preparing and maintaining the accounts of the federal, provincial and district governments. It also authorises payments from the Federal Consolidated Fund and public accounts against approved budgetary provisions following pre-audit checks which were earlier prescribed by the AGP.

However, the legality of the action could be questioned given that the notification was issued by the ministry of finance instead of the
establishment division.

Finance ministry spokesperson Rana Asad Amin, however, said that under the rules of business, the ministry is the parent department of the Audit and Accounts services and thus, has the power to issue notifications.

Furthermore, the decision seemed to have been taken in haste as according to the notification, the establishment division was undertaking a detailed exercise for separating both the cadres.

Amin said the decision was taken by the prime minister, and it would take at least one and a half years for the ED to complete the exercise.

He said former CGA Junaid Khan had moved a summary to separate the Audit and Accounts services and had pleaded that the AGP was interfering in routine work and replacing honest officers with people known to have a tainted reputation.

Amin said the AGP was running the CGA office through a junior officer and despite repeated requests by the finance ministry to appoint a senior officer as the CGA, AGP Rana failed to do so. Amin added that Asif Usman was the senior-most officer of the Accounts cadre and deserved to be appointed at the highest post.

The spokesperson for the AGP refused to comment on the development and said the AGP was preparing a formal response. However, the AGP has expressed displeasure with the government for seizing his powers to pre-audit funds. Through a letter to Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, the AGP had called the move unconstitutional.

He said only Parliament had the authority to take such steps and further claimed that the government did not consult him before making such drastic changes.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2013.