PAC chairman: Official word on Shah’s appointment still awaited

Panel’s function possibly delayed as PPP has not informed NA secretariat about move.

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has decided to appoint its point man as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) but has yet to translate the decision into something official, possibly delaying the functioning of the panel further.

Leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah had accepted the government’s offer to head the committee, but National Assembly secretariat has not been formally intimated about the decision, sources told The Express Tribune on Saturday.

The PAC is scheduled to hold its first meeting during the first week of December, according to a previous announcement, but the meeting is likely to be convened once one of the PPP members is replaced by Shah.

“The PPP might have taken the decision to appoint Shah as head of the committee but we [NA secretariat] have not been updated till date,” said a senior official.

Shah is not a PAC member – the PPP had nominated Syed Naveed Qamar, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho and Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah as members. According to the rules, the National Assembly speaker is authorised to make changes in the composition of the committee.

“The leader of the opposition should have to be the member of the PAC before he is elected as the chairman of the committee,” the official added.



The functioning of the 14th PAC was delayed due to a tug of war between the government and the opposition, with the former refusing to accept anyone other than the opposition leader as the panel’s chairman. Shah took time in taking the decision as well, because his party had nominated Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, sister of Asif Ali Zardari, for the office earlier.

Heads of standing committees

Meanwhile, the opposition did not forward names of its members for the chairmanship of seven standing committees of the lower house.

“The opposition did not give names of their members who would be heading the committees despite a commitment,” a senior official said. He said that the opposition had given a written commitment to the National Assembly speaker that they would forward the nominations for the heads of the seven standing committees, but did not fulfil the promise.

The PPP, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had assured the speaker they will propose the names of their candidates but it did not happen till date. According to the agreement between the government and the opposition, PTI and MQM would be heading two committees each whereas PPP will chair three.

Responding to a question, the official said that “it is the prerogative of the government to give the opposition a share in standing committees and there were no specific rules.”

He referred to the previous assemblies of 1992, 1997 and 2002 and said that the opposition was not given any share to head the lower house standing committees. “The PPP government laid the foundations for this tradition during its government (2008-13),” he added.

It was during this tenure that the leader of the opposition was given the opportunity to head the PAC and there was no such precedent in the past.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2013.