Public Accounts Committee: Decision on Senate representation likely in two weeks, says official

Senate Secretary says PM Nawaz will have the final word

ISLAMABAD: The Senate is likely to receive a response within two weeks about its letter seeking representation in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly or having a separate panel, it has been learnt.

Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani had written the letter to the NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq almost a year ago and “a decision about the issue is likely in two weeks,” Senate Secretary Amjad Parvez told The Express Tribune on Sunday.

Responding to a question about the NA speaker’s response to Rabbani’s letter, Pervez said his office had received a response and a meeting had also taken place regarding representation of the Senate on the PAC.

However, the final word on the issue will come from PM Nawaz, the secretary said. “Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will decide the matter and since he is back at work a decision is likely in the next two weeks,” he added.

PM Nawaz’s close confidante, Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, was also present in that session.

Rabbani speaking in the Senate on June 3 had referred to articles 82, 83, 84 of the Constitution and said that both the secretariats of the Senate and the National Assembly had equal status.

“A parliamentary committee on public accounts is a constitutional requirement and there are precedents in the world of joint committees of both houses of parliament,” he had said. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2016.