Access to Justice Programme: PAC goes soft on judicial academy’s car purchases
Conditionally condones irregular purchase of imported vehicles during ban.
ISLAMABAD:
A reconciliatory Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Friday conditionally condoned the irregular purchase of two imported vehicles by the Federal Judicial Academy (FJA), avoiding any new controversy ahead of a planned meeting called to scrutinise the accounts of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
In April 2004, the FJA – the institution which trains judges and law officers –purchased vehicles valued at Rs5.92 million, despite a ban on purchasing imported vehicles imposed by the prime minister.
Auditors had termed the purchases ‘unauthorised and irregular’. The money to purchase them was used out of funds borrowed from the Asian Development Bank under their Access to Justice Programme.
The Federal Audit Director General Dr Mohammad Asif said that despite the ban, the government had provided a window for purchasing imported vehicles in unavoidable circumstances, which was not utilised by the FJA. The government had set up a screening committee to scrutinise requests for vehicle purchases during the duration of the ban.
The Director General of FJA, Justice (retd) Parvaiz Ali Chawla, claimed that the Judicial Academy is a statutory and corporate body and is not controlled by the government. He added that the approval for the purchases was obtained from the Board of Governors of the Judicial Academy, which is chaired by the chief justice of Pakistan. The federal law minister is the co-chairman of the board along with chief justices of all the provincial high courts as members.
Chawla maintained that after the audit objections, the FJA had also obtained ex-post-facto approval from the Screening Committee of the Planning Commission. His comments, however, appear contradictory as first he claimed autonomy and then later said management got ex-post facto approval, which negates the former claim.
The PAC ordered to settle the objection, provided the FJA produces the screening committee certificate.
The PAC did not accept Chawla’s argument that all government instructions were not applicable to the FJA. “If the PAC accepts the FJA’s assertion, it will also have to relax the rules for hundreds of other institutions claiming autonomy,” said Yasmeen Rehman.
The strongest words were uttered by Noor Alam. “It is regrettable that the judiciary which interprets law and talks about rule of law flouted the rules,” said Alam. His comments regarding judges were expunged from the proceedings.
Since 2006, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has been reluctant to send its registrar for scrutiny of accounts. The PAC called the registrar on December 14 to clear the backlog of the last decade. Due to the SC’s stance, the scrutiny of Rs3.2 billion appropriation accounts remains outstanding.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 8th, 2012.
A reconciliatory Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Friday conditionally condoned the irregular purchase of two imported vehicles by the Federal Judicial Academy (FJA), avoiding any new controversy ahead of a planned meeting called to scrutinise the accounts of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
In April 2004, the FJA – the institution which trains judges and law officers –purchased vehicles valued at Rs5.92 million, despite a ban on purchasing imported vehicles imposed by the prime minister.
Auditors had termed the purchases ‘unauthorised and irregular’. The money to purchase them was used out of funds borrowed from the Asian Development Bank under their Access to Justice Programme.
The Federal Audit Director General Dr Mohammad Asif said that despite the ban, the government had provided a window for purchasing imported vehicles in unavoidable circumstances, which was not utilised by the FJA. The government had set up a screening committee to scrutinise requests for vehicle purchases during the duration of the ban.
The Director General of FJA, Justice (retd) Parvaiz Ali Chawla, claimed that the Judicial Academy is a statutory and corporate body and is not controlled by the government. He added that the approval for the purchases was obtained from the Board of Governors of the Judicial Academy, which is chaired by the chief justice of Pakistan. The federal law minister is the co-chairman of the board along with chief justices of all the provincial high courts as members.
Chawla maintained that after the audit objections, the FJA had also obtained ex-post-facto approval from the Screening Committee of the Planning Commission. His comments, however, appear contradictory as first he claimed autonomy and then later said management got ex-post facto approval, which negates the former claim.
The PAC ordered to settle the objection, provided the FJA produces the screening committee certificate.
The PAC did not accept Chawla’s argument that all government instructions were not applicable to the FJA. “If the PAC accepts the FJA’s assertion, it will also have to relax the rules for hundreds of other institutions claiming autonomy,” said Yasmeen Rehman.
The strongest words were uttered by Noor Alam. “It is regrettable that the judiciary which interprets law and talks about rule of law flouted the rules,” said Alam. His comments regarding judges were expunged from the proceedings.
Since 2006, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has been reluctant to send its registrar for scrutiny of accounts. The PAC called the registrar on December 14 to clear the backlog of the last decade. Due to the SC’s stance, the scrutiny of Rs3.2 billion appropriation accounts remains outstanding.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 8th, 2012.