Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Wednesday passed KP Ehtesab Commission (Amendment) bill, 2016 to further strengthened accountability process in the province.
The amendment bill was presented to the assembly in May this year and along with amendments of the two legislators also proposed an amendment for consideration of a select committee headed by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.
Other members of the committee included provincial ministers, Inayatullah Khan, Sikandar Hayat Khan, Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi, Shah Farman, Deputy Speaker, Dr Meher Taj Roghani and Advocate General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while Leader of Opposition, Mualana Lutf-ur-Rehman, Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha and Syed Jaffar Shah represented the opposition in the committee.
Under the amendment, the KP Ehtesab Commission will investigate into cases involving financial loss to the provincial exchequer not less than an amount of Rs 50 million and in case the amount is less than Rs 50 million then the matter would be inquired and investigated by the Anti-Corruption Establishment.
The inquiry shall be completed within a period of sixty (60) days followed by investigation which shall be completed within ninety (90) days, fixed for the inquiry, sufficient evidence has been collected, the inquiry shall be converted into the investigation with the approval of the Director-General.
Furthermore, where the inquiry or investigation is not completed within the required period, the Director-General, on the request of the inquiry officer may extend the period of inquiry or investigation for a further period of 60 and 90 days respectively, after giving reasons in writing.
Regarding the criticism of the opposition over exempting investigation into ongoing schemes by the Ehtesab Commission, the Chief Minister who was also attending the proceedings of the house clarified that ongoing schemes are not exempted from the ambit of the commission and in a case of any complaint action will be taken.
However, he said work on the ongoing scheme will not be stopped.
Taking the floor, Public Health Engineering (PHE) Provincial Minister Shah Farman said that the amendments passed by the house will further strengthen the Ehtesab Commission and now it can arrest anyone as it is more powerful than the provincial government.
He said that now no one will accuse the provincial government of victimisation.
He congratulated the provincial government on the passage of the amendment bill.
He said that the amendment proposed by Zarin Gul of JUI-F has been included in the bill while the proposed amendment of Syed Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha will be also considered.
Earlier, the house rejected the disapproval resolution of Aamna Sardar of PML-N on the Galiyat Development Authority Ordinance, 2016 with the majority vote.
Later, the Speaker Asad Qaiser announced the adjournment of the house proceedings till 3pm on Friday.
