Members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday demanded the Supreme Court registrar present himself before the committee, warning that otherwise it would be forced to take action against him.
The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by PAC Chairman Nadeem Afzal Gondal.
According to details, Gondal said the committee was seeking the Law Ministry’s opinion on the issue, adding that he had been assured by Law Minister Farooq Naik that the ministry would provide legal assistance to the PAC over the issue. The PAC chairman said the SC had been awarding extension to the registrar term again and again. He said it was illegal of the SC to provide new terms of job to the registrar on the same post without following any rule and regulation. Gondal said the case would also be sent to NAB for investigation.
The PAC also expressed annoyance over the slow investigation of the NLC scam and instructed the defense secretary to cooperate with NAB and present a detailed report to the committee within the next 15 days. It also asked for a list of illegal contracts allocated by the NLC. NLC Director General Junaid Rehmat informed the committee that the NLC had repaid Rs 9.5 billion it had borrowed and it had earned Rs 6 billion in the last eight months. The PAC advised the NLC DG to resolve the issue of illegal vehicles on a priority basis. NLC officials told the committee that the NLC contract of Afghan transit trade transportation had been cancelled by the government in July 2011. They said Afghan transit trade transportation contract was worth Rs 100 billion.
Committee member Raza Hayat Haraj supported the NLC official and said the contract should be awarded to the NLC again. “At present the transportation of Afghan transit trade is being done by private sector which has resulted in increase of smuggling,” he said.
NAB officials briefed the committee regarding NLC scam and said the NAB chairman and the army chief had met three times over the issue.
They said NAB was investigating civilians involved in the case while the General Headquarters (GHQ) was investigating army officials involved in the case.
Gondal said a lot of time was being wasted on the investigation of this case and delaying tactics were being used.
Planning Commission Secretary Javed Malik informed the committee that 191 projects would be completed in the current fiscal years. He said 89 projects would be completed in December while 102 by June 2013. He added that the Planning Commission had instructed the National Highway Authority (NHA) to utilize the funds on big projects and complete them as soon as possible. The PAC chairman asked the Planning Commission to submit a report on all projects, appointments and foreign visits of planning commission officials and training expenditures to the committee.