PESHAWAR: Speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani shifted the venue of the maiden meeting of the Public Accounts Committee to Peshawar doing a U-turn on his earlier decision to hold the meeting in the federal capital.

A circular issued by the assembly secretariat said the PAC would meet from Dec 3 to Dec 11 in the provincial assembly’s building in the provincial capital instead of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House, Islamabad.

It said the schedule of the meetings was unchanged.

Committee to examine 18 depts’ audit paras from Dec 3 to 11

The PAC will dispose of audit paras (objections) to the affairs of 18 departments.

Speaker Mushtaq Ghani, who is also the PAC chairman, had said the venue of the meeting was shifted to the federal capital as the MPAs, who were not part of the committee, visited the assembly secretariat for personal work and thus, wasting the time of the PAC members.

Some officials of the assembly secretariat were concerned about the shifting of the PAC meeting’s venue from the provincial capital to the federal capital, saying holding meetings in Pakhtunkhwa House, Islamabad, will be a very expensive and time-consuming exercise.

For the first time, the PAC headed by Mushtaq Ghani, who belongs to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, will discuss the audit reports about its own previous government.

It will take up audit paras (objections) to the affairs of 18 government departments in the current session.

Awami National Party MPA and PAC member Khushdil Khan said the committee members weren’t informed about the holding of the PAC meeting in Islamabad.

He said the assembly speaker had decided the venue for the meeting and he might take decision in good faith.

“The opposition was not taken into confidence about the appointment of PAC members and that fresh and inexperienced MPAs were made part of the committee.

He said the panel of the members was changed only after the opposition expressed reservations about it.

DEPUTATION: The KP Assembly has surrendered the services of three officials and a driver to the National Assembly Secretariat on deputation for a period of three years, sources said.

The sources said the assembly secretariat had relieved drivers and three officials of their duties with an immediate effect after receiving a request from the Establishment Division.

The official documents show that the services of driver Sher Nawaz (BPS-4), account officer Arif Mehmood (BPS-17), computer operator Irshad Ali (BPS-16) and assistant director (IT) Tahir Qadeem (BPS-17) had been relieved of their duties and that their services had been surrendered to the National Assembly secretariat.

The sources said all four employees belonged to Swabi, home district of Speaker NA Assad Qaisar.

They said Tahir Qadeem was the brother-in-law of the provincial assembly speaker.

When contacted, secretary of the KP Assembly Nasrullah Khan said his secretariat had sufficient strength and sending four employees on deputation would not make any impact. He said the matter should not be scandalised.

The NA director (media) said the requisition of employees from other departments and their posting in NA on deputation was a routine matter and every speaker brought in staff of own choice.

He said that rules and regulations allowed the requisition of employees on deputation.

“Senior officers have been posted to the NA on deputation,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2018