News
Saturday, August 11, 2012
PAC mulls reference against SC registrar* Registrar had refused to give details of top court’s financial matters to committee
* Law ministry’s advice sought on issue
By Tanveer Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Afzal Nadeem Gondal on Friday said that a reference would be sent against the Supreme Court registrar if he did not appear before the committee to submit the details of the apex court’s budget.
PAC is the top parliamentary watchdog to check the public spending.
“We will send the reference against the registrar if he didn’t appear and we have sought advice from the Law Ministry in this regard,” the PAC chairman told Daily Times.
It may be recalled that PAC had asked the Supreme Court registrar to provide certain details about the financial matters of the apex court. However, the registrar had declined to provide the details, saying, “No discussion shall take place in parliament with respect to the conduct of any judge of the Supreme Court or of a high court, in the discharge of his duties under article 68 of the constitution.”
Gondal said that seeking details of the financial spending of the Supreme Court was in accordance of the law and explained that a letter to that effect had been written during the tenure of Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as chairman of the committee. He expressed hope that the Law Ministry would be able to give its advice before Eid.
He said the reference would be finalised with consultation of all members of PAC, which represents different political parties in parliament.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the largest opposition party in parliament and having a sizeable representation in PAC, has apprehensions over the reference, though it endorses audit of the Supreme Court’s budget. “It will further aggravate the relations between the judiciary and the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP),” PML-N Deputy Information Secretary Khurram Dastagir Khan said.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk