Worth Rs420m : Lawmakers demand recovery of retired ECP members’ salary

Questions raised over appointments of new members in absence of payment law

ISLAMABAD: The legislators on Tuesday have suggested recovering about Rs420 million from four members of the Election Commission of Pakistan who recently retired after the government could not satisfy them that these payments were made in accordance with the law.

The Senate Standing Committee on Finance discussed the issue of what it called “illegal payments of salaries” to the four former members of the ECP who retired after expiry of the five-year constitutional term on June 9.

Questions were also raised over the appointments of the new members of the ECP in absence of a law regarding payments of salaries to them. Under the law, the government has to appoint the new members within 45 days of the retirement of the outgoing members in consultation with the opposition leader in the National Assembly.

“The government should recover the money from the former ECP members who got the salaries without any legal cover,” said Senator Kamil Ali Agha of PMLQ.

The Senate Committee would send its report to Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani for a decision.

History

In June 2011, the then government had moved the bill to pay the salaries to four members of the ECP equivalent to salary drawn by a sitting judge of a high court. However, the Parliament has not yet approved the bill, although the government converted it into a Money Bill.

Senator Mohsin Leghari said that the Cabinet Division, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office did not efficiently perform their duties and the responsibility should be fixed for not getting the ECP Members Salary Bill passed.

The appointment summary of all the four members of the ECP was silent on the issue of their perks and privileges, said Fida Mohammad, additional secretary of the ECP.

In absence of legal cover to the salaries of the ECP members, these appointments should be considered as ad-hoc appointments against the constitutional posts, said Senator Mohsin Aziz of the PTI.

After the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, the then government had appointed one retired high court judge from each of the four provinces. However, it did not specify the terms and privileges of the four members of the Commission.

The government paid salaries on provisional basis, subject to approval of the Members Election Commission Salary, Allowances, Perks and Privileges Bill 2016, said Hafiz Mohammad Tahir, Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR).

However, Senator Agha opined that all the four members of the Commission should have shown character and refused to draw the salary until the parliament approved the Bill.

He disclosed that the government was also not paying salaries to the Chairman of National Commission for Human Rights, Ali Nawaz Chohan, for the last eight months. He praised Chohan for showing courage to refuse to get the salary in absence of any legal cover.

According to the details submitted by the AGRP last month, about Rs420 million were paid to four members in salaries and allowances from June 2011 to the date.  Justice retired Riaz Kiyani got Rs104 million in last almost five years in lieu of salary. Each of the other three members, Justice retired Fazal ur Rehman, Justice retired Muhammad Roshan Essani and Justice retired Shahzad Akbar Khan got Rs102.1 million.

Secretary Finance Dr Waqar Masood informed the committee that the National Assembly would pass the ECP members salary Bill in its upcoming session that the government has moved as a Money Bill. In April, the Senate committee refused to accept the Members Election Commission Salary Bill as a money bill, which the government had moved to give a legal cover to these payments. In such cases, the Senate does not have powers to vote.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2016.

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