ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s government seems reluctant to continue a parliamentary tradition of appointing the leader of the opposition as the chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) due to fears of intervention in audit of the previous government’s financial matters.
The incumbent government is of the view that the committee will be auditing the revenue and expenditures of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government and appointing their man will not be suitable.
All parliamentary parties get representation and chairmanship of the committee in proportionate to their seats in the National Assembly. As per the rule, the PML-N is due to get the chairmanship of nine committees while the opposition party wanted to head the PAC as it has, according to sources, informed the NA Speaker Asad Qaiser about its desire.
The government, under the law, is not bound to offer the chairmanship of the all-important PAC to opposition parties, but it has been happened in the past as a parliamentary practice and tradition in order to ensure transparency in financial matters.
Talking to an English daily, PML-N spokesperson Marriam Aurangzeb said that the party has decided the names of the heads of the committees and nominated Shehbaz Sharif as chairman of the PAC.
On the other hand, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the PML-N wanted to get the PAC chairmanship but the government has not taken any decision in this regard.
Expressing the views of the government about PAC appointment, he said: “Appointing a PML-N man as the PAC chairman will be like asking the fox to guard the hen house”.
Chaudhry further said that a final decision will be taken in a meeting to be presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday.
