Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani in his ruling, with regard to a written reply, has said that no person, organisation, body, authority or government can refuse to provide information to parliament by taking refuge under any rule, regulation or law.
The government (National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Ministry of Finance) had misled parliament by merging two provisions of distinct laws to create impression which was not legally justified, he added.
He asserted that this was a deliberate attempt to withhold information from parliament which amounted to a breach of privilege of the House and its members. However, he said, keeping in view the stand taken by Law and Justice minister, NBP through Ministry of Finance must inform the House within 10 days of this ruling regarding the names and action taken against officials of the NBP and Ministry of Finance who drafted and approved the misleading answer before the parliament.
Elaborating further, Raza Rabbani said that the constitution of Pakistan placed parliament on a different pedestal from that of any organisation or body and the same could be fortified by Clause (3) of Article 66 of the Constitution.
The senate chairman maintained that even otherwise, if the government was of the opinion that providing names of persons who had obtained loans would be against the public interest, the only available remedy was to make recourse to the provisions of Senate Rules, 2012, for making request to the chairman senate in this regard, which request was not made in the instant case.
Giving background of the ruling, the chairman senate said that responding on a question of Senator Ch Tanvir Khan seeking information regarding the names of persons/ companies who had obtained loans of Rs 5 million or more from the NBP during the last five years and the number of cases in which the said loans had been repaid were being repaid and those which had been waived off.
The NBP took a position that no bank or financial institution would divulge any information relating to the affairs of its customers and secrecy of bonafide banking transactions shall be strictly observed.
However, aggregate loan amount of Rs 5 million and above disbursed by NBP during last five years (i.e. July 2011 to June, 2016) was amounting to Rs360 billion. Out of total amount disbursed during the period, the loan of Rs271 billion was outstanding comprising regular loan of Rs216 billion and Non Performing Loans (NPLs) of Rs. 55 billion.
The reply of the Bank was endorsed by the minister in-charge during a supplementary question. However, in a motion made by Senator Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini which was supported by Senators Saeed ul Hassan Mandokhel, Numan Wazir Khattak, Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar, Salem Mandiviwala, Taj Haider and Moulana Hafiz Hamdullah reiterated that no information could be withheld from parliament.
Leader of the opposition, Atizaz Ahsan endorsed the point of view of the senators. However, the Minister for Law and Justice Mr Zahid Hamid contesting the point of view of the senators and Aitzaz Ahsan had stick to the stance adopted by the NBP through Ministry of Finance.
After due deliberation and analysis of the legal and factual position based on the relevant rules, judgments of the Supreme Court, High Court, the above ruling had been given with the direction to the Senate Secretariat to send the copies of the same to the minister for finance, revenue, economic affairs, statistics and privatisation, Law and Justice minister and the minister for parliamentary affairs for ensuring strict compliance.