An AFP file photo of Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh.
The office of the AGP is responsible for the audit of expenditures incurred by the federal and provincial governments and all the constitutional establishments of Pakistan.
The office of the AGP has termed the government’s decision in violation of the Constitution of Pakistan and United Nations General Assembly’s resolution of March 2012 that guarantee independence to the supreme audit institutions of the countries, showed official documents.
On December 23, last year, the Cabinet Division notified the office of the AGP as an autonomous body of the Finance Division. This has raised many administrative and constitutional questions.
The entire scheme involving redefinition of the office of the AGP should be based on the provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan, the office of the AGP wrote to the Secretary Cabinet on January 3.
“Making office of the AGP subservient to the Finance Division, which the former audits, is a glaring instance of conflict of interest.
“The independence and autonomy of a constitutional entity with nation-wide jurisdiction must be upheld by treating it on a par with other constitutional offices,” it added.
The Cabinet Division’s notification was also contrary to the understanding and commitments given by the Adviser to Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms Dr Ishrat Husain. Dr Husain had promised to the AGP office in May last year that its constitutional status will be protected.
Redefining of the status of the AGP office was part of an overall exercise to restructure the federal government. Through December 23 notification, the Cabinet Division intimated the office of the AGP that there will be a board of directors that will oversee its functions.
It appears bizarre that the government is trying to place a constitutional office under a board of directors. When contacted, Dr Husain told The Express Tribune that the Cabinet Division’s notification was indeed an “error”, which, he said, would be rectified and the constitutional status of the AGP office would be protected.
Dr Husain had given similar assurances to the AGP in May last year but it seems that the Cabinet Division was not listening to the PM’s advisor.
“The Dec 23 notification will be amended to exclude the office of the AGP from the list of autonomous bodies and its status will be brought on a par with other constitutional offices,” said Dr Husain. The adviser said no executive office can change status of any constitutional office with an executive order.
“The implementation committee has taken note of this error and the issue will be rectified,” he said.
The immediate fallout from declaring the AGP office an autonomous body will be on officers of Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service whom the Establishment Division initially refused to acknowledge as “civil servants”, showed a January 23 letter of the Establishment Division.
The Establishment Division had sought clarification from the office of the Auditor General three days before the scheduled meeting of Central Selection Board (CSB). The CSB on Monday began its three-day meetings to consider cases of various civil service groups for promotion to grade-20 and -21.
However, the Dr Ishrat Husain-led Institutional Reforms Cell clarified on Monday that “the officers of Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service are civil servants and accordingly their promotion cases are to be considered by the CSB”.
The CSB is now scheduled to take up the cases of audit and accounts service group for promotions on Wednesday. The Establishment Division’s January 23 letter once again shows that the Cabinet Division did not take reaction of the office of the AGP seriously.
The department of the AGP is currently in process of finalizing the audit reports of fiscal year 2018-19, which coincided with the first year of the PTI government.
In March last year, the PTI government had started planning to change the legal status of the AGP office. The official correspondence showed that the office of the AGP had strongly reacted to the move at that time too. But the federal government went ahead with its plan.
“The AGP while alluding to Article 81(a)(v) of the Constitution, had categorically ruled out the legality of any scheme, that bring his constitutional office subordinate to a Board of Directors, comprising representation from the ministries concerned, with responsibility to approve the compensation packages and the terms and conditions of the employees,” the AGP office documents said.
It said jurisdiction of the constitutional office of the AGP, provided in Article 170(2) of the Constitution, spread throughout the state, as defined in Article 7 of the Constitution, while the jurisdiction of the Finance Division is limited to the federal government.
The office of the AGP has demanded that the government should amend the Rules of Business of 1973 aimed at practically giving it its due status of a constitutional body.
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