Accountability commission act: New provision allows for compensation for acquitted officials

Select committee adds stipulation stating trial court should determine the amount.

PESHAWAR:

An accused person if honourably acquitted by the final court of appeal may file for financial compensation, a provision inserted in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Ehstisab Commission Act 2014 stipulates.

The proviso has been added to Sub-Clause II of Section 44 of the accountability commission act which was passed by the provincial assembly on Tuesday. “Provided that person is honourably acquitted by the final court of appeal, he may be compensated in accordance with Section 35-A of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC),” it states.

Incidentally, a report on the accountability commission bill issued by the select committee notes that the committee’s directions to insert a clause providing compensation to innocent accused was opposed by the establishment department following consultations with its legal advisers.

The report states the secretary for the provincial establishment department replied to the select committee’s directions by saying that the department consulted with the law department and advocate general about compensating innocent accused, however, there is no provision available in any law for compensation.

The committee’s report records the law department and advocate general as stating that a separate mechanism for dealing with damages and frivolous litigation is however available in the CPC.

“After a heated debate, the committee decided the trial court should determine the financial compensation in accordance with Section 35-A of the CPC on the request of the acquitted party,” the report states, adding the insertion was made in Sub-Clause II of Section 44 of the accountability commission law.

The committee has also added a subsection to the clause which states a person shall not be appointed as commissioner of the accountability commission unless he is sagacious, righteous, honest and is a person of good character.

The select committee has made very few changes in the law to which around 60 amendments were proposed mostly by two lawmakers, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Sobia Shahid and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s Uzma Khan.

The law is here

Under the recently enacted law, the accountably commission will comprise five commissioners nominated by the search and scrutiny committee and confirmed by the legislative committee on governance and accountability.

The commissioners will hold office for a term of four years and shall not be eligible for a second term.

The law also provides that the director general of the commission should preferably be a resident of K-P; however, commissioners must be residents of the province.

The Ethtisab Commission law shall apply to all public office holders who are performing their functions in connection with the affairs and employment of government funds in K-P, and includes all those persons, who are involved in and deal with transactions and utilisation of the government’s money.

Under the law, the misuse of authority or power in committing any offence by a public office holder is punishable by rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to 14 years.

The law will come into effect at once, except for Section 57 which stipulates the repeal of West Pakistan Anti-Corruption Establishment Ordinance 1961 and will be enforced after the establishment of the commission under Section 3 on such a date as the government may notify in its official gazette.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2014.