- Govt working on reference to get Akhtar Buland Rana removed by Supreme Judicial Council on charges of misconduct
- Finance Minister Ishaq Dar reportedly ‘annoyed’ with Rana for opposing pre-audit release of Rs480b to IPPs to clear circular debt
- AGP being blamed for taking salary at par with a Supreme Court judge
Failing in its bid to send Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) Akhtar Buland Rana home, the federal government is now working on a reference against the official who could be removed only by the Supreme Judicial Council on account of misconduct.
Sources told Pakistan Today that Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar was “annoyed” with Rana who had opposed the direct release of Rs 480 billion to independent power producers (IPPs) to clear the circular debt through State Bank of Pakistan, without following required constitutional pre-audit checks which was a gross misconduct and was in violation of relevant laws.
Out of the total amount of Rs 480 billion, Rs 64 billion was reportedly taken out from Universal Service Fund (USF) which can never be drawn and used under the law for another head other than scholarships for students of Information Technology sector or for the growth and development of the IT sector. The matter is already pending with the Supreme Court of Pakistan which has taken notice of the matter.
“In his comments over the matter, Rana termed the payment as illegal. Later, the matter turned serious when the then AGP Tahir Mahmood referred the matter to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for an investigation into the matter. This cost Mahmood dearly as soon afterwards, the finance minister suspended him,” sources said.
The sources said that since the government had failed to build a case against the AGP, “who is stubborn and is adamant not to follow illegal orders of the government”, the government now has decided to prepare a reference against him to be sent to the Supreme Judicial Council for his removal.
Rana took oath as AGP on August 27, 2011 for four-year tenure. He is set to retire in August 2015. Under the Constitution, he could prematurely be removed from his post only under Article 109.
“In order to settle scores with the AGP, a subcommittee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by a PML-N lawmaker had been formed to probe excessive salary issue of Rana,” the sources said.
Rana is accused of drawing salary in excess of his due amount as compared to other Grade 22 officers. He is also blamed for drawing salary at par with the judge of the Supreme Court. Later, notification of the PAC sub-committee was issued to examine excessive salary and privileges of AGP in the light of SRO 1074-(1)/2007.
Additional auditor general has been on record to inform the PAC that the AGP was not getting the salary at par with the judge of Supreme Court and he was only getting Rs 350,000 per month. However, the members did not listen to his arguments as PAC Chairman Syed Khursheed Shah asked him to stop, saying that the matter was before the sub-committee, which was probing the issue.
In the meanwhile, before the meeting of the PAC, the sub-committee headed by Junaid Anwar Chaudhry held its meeting which was attended by its members Dr Arif Alvi, one representative each from Finance Ministry, Law Division, Controller General of Accounts and Establishment Division.
The committee examined the documents provided by the Controller General Accounts and Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR). The Finance Ministry has already taken position against the AGP, conceding before the committee that AGP had increased his own salaries and privileges and even sent two notices seeking explanation from him for his act but he did not reply as he only stated that there was a legal provision for this.
This stance is incorrect as the AGPR is solely responsible for fixing and releasing salaries of all federal government civil servants including judges of the Supreme Court being the paymaster. No other official hence can increase his/her own salary.
AGP CAN’T RAISE HIS OWN SALARY
- Section 3 of the schedule for pay, allowances and pension refers to salary and pension of the AGP which reads as under:
(a) Paid salary which is 20 percent higher than the maximum salary payable to an officer in Revised Basic Pay Scale – 22. The term “salary” for the purpose of this clause shall also include ad-hoc reliefs/increased sanctioned by the government for civil servants from time to time.
(b) Entitled to all such benefits including entitlement pertaining to travel, as are admissible to a Minister of State.
Hence, the salary of AGP includes all sorts of allowances including monotisation allowance. Ultimately the AGP would be paid a lump sum salary which is to be determined and fixed by the accountant general of Pakistan revenues (AGPR) and not by the Accountant General of Pakistan (AGP) himself.
HOW TO REMOVE AN AGP
- Sub-clause 3 of the article 168 of the constitution reads as under:
“The Auditor-General shall, unless he sooner resigns or is removed from service in accordance with clause (5), hold office for a term of four years from the date on which he assumes such office or attains the age of sixty-five years, whichever is earlier.”
- Sub-clause 5 determines the same article procedure to remove the AGP:
“The Auditor General shall not be removed from office except in the like manner and on the like grounds as a judge of the Supreme Court.”