The Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Tuesday approved Re-consideration of the Financial Institutions (Recovery of Finances) (Amendment) Bill 2016.
The committee which held its meeting under the chairmanship of Senator Saleem Mandviwala also approved two other bills namely “The Credit Bureaus (Amendment) Bill 2016” and “The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2016”.
Regarding salaries and facilities of members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the ECP additional secretary informed the committee that before the passing of the 18th amendment, retired judges of High Court were eligible to become ECP members.
He said that in 2011, the opposition leader sent four names for election commission members to the prime minister which he approved and forwarded to the president for final approval and on November 9, 2011 the president of Pakistan approved the four people as members of ECP.
He said that salaries and facilities were not mentioned in that summary and the ECP prepared a draft for salaries and facilities of the members on June 13, 2011 and forwarded it to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs sent the draft to the Cabinet Division, which forwarded it to the Parliament House for approval. The approval, however, is still pending.
Senator Kamil Ali Agha, while commenting on the issue, said that notification was a must for the appointment of the members. He demanded that all the salaries and facilities given to the members should be recovered and payments should be made through the Establishment Division.
Senator Mohsin Aziz said that despite being a large organisation, the ECP does not have any proper rules and regulations for salaries and it also has a different procedure for appointments.
The Accountant General of Pakistan said that salaries and appointments are not the authority of the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR).
The committee decided that a report in this regard will be prepared to find out the reality.
