Apathetic bureaucracy

As officialdom’s laid-back attitude remains unchanged even during economic turmoil

The officialdom’s laid-back attitude remains unchanged even at a time when the country is in serious economic trouble. Just days back, Asad Umar, Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, and other members of the panel expressed annoyance over the absence of the secretary finance and a high-level official from another department from the panel’s meeting. In protest, the committee decided to defer discussion on important government bills, including the Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) (AMLA) Bill, 2019. The government wants the AMLA Bill, 2019 approved on the premise that it is important to meet the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force. The panel has been asking the government to improve the bill in order to ensure that it is not misused.

It expressed concern over the proposed powers to be granted to an investigation officer to arrest a person without warrants on mere suspicion of carrying money or gold. It asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to make a comprehensive representation about the procedure of tax returns and flaws, if any, at its next meeting. The panel took notice of the problems being faced by the real-estate sector due to confusion about the implementation of property value, increase in FBR value, and asked the adviser on finance to coordinate with the provincial governments in order to remove the confusion. It wanted members of the Competition Commission of Pakistan to attend its next meeting to explain the reasons for a sharp increase in the prices of wheat flour, sugar, cement, domestic airfare and the problems being faced by the automobile sector. The committee decided to appoint a subcommittee to identify the problems being faced by the textile sector.

Considering the fact that the nation’s economy is now in dire straits, it’s difficult to comprehend the carefree attitude of the bureaucracy.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2019.

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