No NA panels yet

More than two months have passed since the election of Shehbaz Sharif as Prime Minister, but there has been no agreement between the government and the opposition on the formation of the National Assembly’s standing committees which are regarded as eyes, ears, hands and even brain of parliament.

Consensus also eludes the two sides on who is going to chair the all-important Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which serves as the parliamentary watchdog mandated to oversee the audit of revenue and expenditure by the government. There are reports, even statements by government ministers, of the position being offered to Shaikh Waqas Akram of the opposition PTI in line with the parliamentary tradition, but the same has yet to see the light of the day. So the lack of agreement on the PAC chairmanship is a major reason behind the delay in the formation of more than three dozen standing committees. There has to be a committee for each ministry of the government mandated to examine a parliamentary bill before a seal of approval from the lower house is sought.

It, thus, goes without saying that the business of the House is at a near standstill. The government had to face an embarrassing situation in the Assembly on April 29 when it had to suspend the rules — under which the parliamentary bills are required to be referred to the standing committees — to pass the Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill. The way it was done — through a motion seeking suspension of the relevant rules — triggered a strong protest from the opposition. The two sides need to sit down and finalise the formation of the House committees on a priority basis so that the process of legislation, which is the prime job of the National Assembly, does not suffer any more.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2024.

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