Legislative logjam: New law on accountability stalled since 2009

Bill has yet to move out of the law committee in the National Assembly.

ISLAMABAD:

Nearly two years after it was first proposed, the National Accountability Commission Bill is still languishing in the law committee of the National Assembly, with both the government and the opposition blaming each other for the lack of progress on the legislation.

Having earlier worked out all of their differences on the bill, the government and the opposition cannot agree on the eligibility criteria for the chairman of the National Accountability Commission, a body that would replace the current National Accountability Bureau.

The leading party in the opposition, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), wants the commission chairman to be a serving judge of the Supreme Court. The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party disagrees.

Legal analysts say it may be difficult for the PML-N to justify their case. Ashtar Ausaf Ali, an Islamabad-based lawyer, said that there are three reasons why the PML-N position is legally untenable.

Firstly, judges are barred by their own code of conduct to assume administrative roles, of which the NAC chairmanship would be one. Secondly, all decisions made by the NAC chairman are subject to judicial review, which would necessarily result in a conflict of interest for any Supreme Court justice appointed to the job. And finally, the chairmanship would constitute a demotion for any apex court judge.

PML-N leaders, however, continue to insist that the fault for the delay in passing the bill lies with the government.

“The government does not want to proceed,” said Anusha Rehman, a PML-N member of the law committee and a lawyer herself. She added that the committee chairperson had refused to take dissenting note of the PML-N on some issues and had instead contacted the PML-N leadership.

Committee chairperson Begum Nasim Akhtar Chaudhry explained her actions by claiming that the government wanted to take the opposition on board before pursuing the bill. Chaudhry implied that the government had the votes to pass the bill as it stands but wanted to move the bill out of the committee with unanimous consent.

Other members of the committee held the chairperson’s leadership responsible for the delay.

“It is responsibility of the government to address the grievances of the opposition,” said Riaz Fatiana of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q).

The PML-Q itself does not favour a serving apex court judge as chairman of the PAC, supporting instead eligibility criteria that is open to retired judges and those eligible for the appointment of superior court judges.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2011.