Buland Akhtar Rana
Two top officials of the parliament secretariat recorded their testimonies before the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on Friday in a reference for the disqualification of Auditor General Pakistan (AGP) Buland Akhtar Rana.
Under the chairmanship of Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, the council resumed the proceedings of the reference filed by the National Assembly against Rana. It is the first time in the country’s history that a complaint has been filed in the SJC for the AGP’s disqualification.
Official sources revealed to The Express Tribune that both NA secretary Muhammad Riaz and additional secretary Qamar Lodhi recorded their statements before the council. The two men were also crossed-examined by defence attorneys.
The hearing of the case has been adjourned until March 25.
A senior official said that he expects the proceedings of the council to be further prolonged. The council or SJC usually spends six to eight months on deciding a reference, he told The Express Tribune. The official pointed out that the council has decided only one reference so far, citing the ouster of a judge in 1971.
“In a majority of cases, the respondents themselves prefer to tender their resignations rather than face the SJC proceedings. In the present case, however, the AGP is unwilling to give up the legal fight,” the official said.
The AGP, according to the official, has also filed a plea in SJC that the government officials be stopped from sharing the case proceedings with the media because under the law, proceedings of the council are to be held in-camera.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in August 2014 had constituted a sub-committee to probe allegations against Rana. The committee discovered that there was truth to the allegations and recommended that a reference be filed for his disqualification under Article 209(5) read with Article 168(5) of the Constitution.
Last year, PAC Chairman Khursheed Shah presented a fact-finding report in the National Assembly, revealing how the AGP had withdrawn Rs4.62 million from the exchequer on account of excess salary and privileges in violation of standard rules and regulations.
The report claimed that Rana was getting 20% additional salary in comparison with a Grade-22 officer, and under the monetisation policy, he availed more than Rs3.1 million between January and March 2014.
It also said that matters of a revised pay slip and provisional payments to the AGP were deliberately kept hidden for attaining particular financial benefits.
The committee also recommended recovering an amount of Rs4.62 million from Rana.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 21st, 2015.
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