In the absence of standing committees, Sindh Assembly struggles to find its footing

The bone of contention seems to be the public accounts committee which audits the provincial government’s expenses

KARACHI: It has now been over six months since the Sindh Assembly was formed, with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) forming the government in the province with its simple majority and all other parties choosing to sit on the Opposition benches.

However, the Assembly is incomplete without its standing committees, which are supposed to be constituted as soon as the Assembly is officially in business. According to the Sindh Assembly's Rules of Procedure, "there shall be elected by the Assembly after a general election"…. "a Standing Committee for each Department(s) of Government."

Better late, if never

The newly-elected members of the Sindh Assembly took oath on August 13, 2018. Over 45 proceedings in four sessions have been held thus far, but the process of electing members to the standing committees hasn't been completed yet. Under the rules, "each standing committee shall consist of eleven members to be elected by the Assembly". These members are to be elected, "as far as possible, in accordance with the agreement of the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition".



The contention

However, the biggest bone of contention between the Opposition and the Treasury benches is the constitution and chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) - perhaps the most powerful committee in the Assembly. This is because the PAC is responsible for auditing the government's accounts and ensuring that the budgetary allocations and funds disbursed "were legally available for, and applicable to, the service or purpose to which they have been applied or charged".

At the national level, the PPP has always stressed to appoint the PAC chairperson from the Opposition. Only on Tuesday, PPP MNA Khursheed Shah warned that they "won't let Parliament function if Shehbaz Sharif was removed from the post [of PAC chairman]".

The situation is opposite in Sindh, where, over the last decade of its rule, the PPP has consistently appointed its own lawmakers to the post.

Currently, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which is the largest Opposition party in the provincial assembly, is demanding the chairmanship of 14 of the 34 standing committees, as well as that of the public accounts committee.



Missing out

While the PAC has been headed by the PPP for the last decade, it doesn't have much to show in terms of its productivity. In fact, not a single report has been published by the PAC over the last 10 years, which is in violation of rule 191 of the Assembly's Rules of Procedure that mandates it to produce an annual report.

This is despite the fact that the Auditor-General of Pakistan has pointed out a staggering Rs957 billion worth of irregularities in the provincial government's accounts.

Another problem relating to the delays in the establishment of committees is that the drafts of rules, laws and amendments, which are meant to be reviewed by the respective committee, are currently being sent to the select committee for consideration.

The Sindh Assembly will only be able to function properly once its standing committees are notified. But that doesn't seem to be on the cards anytime soon. Until then, the Assembly is in violation of its own rules.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2019.