January 22, 2006	Sunday	Zilhaj 21, 1426

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 21: The powers of the government to confer the status of a minister on an unelected person came under scrutiny in the Senate on Friday as both treasury and opposition members raised questions about the constitutional and legislative basis of the powers.

The issue came to the surface during the question hour when Leader of the House Wasim Sajjad informed the Senate that Chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Dr Attaur Rehman, who was an adviser to the prime minister with the status of federal minister, could not attend the proceedings of the Parliament as he was not an adviser “in terms of the constitution”.

Earlier, on December 26 last, Senate Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro had given an observation that the HEC chairman should attend the session being an adviser to the prime minister. He had given this observation when Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan had stated that Dr Attaur Rehman could attend the session and respond to members’ questions.

Mr Sajjad told the house that after this observation from the chair, Dr Attaur Rehman had informed him that he could not attend the session of the Parliament under the laws.

Dr Khalid Ranjha, who was presiding over the session, asked Mr Sajjad whether he reckoned that Dr Atta was not an adviser.

“Yes, in terms of constitution,” Mr Sajjad replied, triggering a debate that consumed most of the time of the day’s proceeding. “The issue is that whether he (Dr Atta) could attend the session or not,” he said, adding that “a person is not entitled to participate in the Parliament’s proceedings only by virtue of the status”.

Mr Ranjha and some of the members questioned that if he was not answerable to the Parliament then how could he issue policy statements and how could he use flag cars.

Pakistan Muslim League (PML) Senator Chaudhry Anwar Bhinder said to become a federal minister was a very difficult job. He said what was the justification of giving the status of the minister to an unelected person who was not representing the people. “No one should have authority to grant the status of the federal minister to any person,” he said.

Law Minister Wasi Zafar said the government had the powers to grant status of the minister to a person in recognition of his services. People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) Senator Farhatullah Babar supported Mr Bhinder’s viewpoint and said it seemed that the government was conferring the status of ministers only to appease people. Giving examples, he said, chairman of the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) had also been given the status of a minister. Similarly, he said, Gen Musharraf through a notification, granted the status of a minister to Hamid Javed when he was not given promotion in Army.

Similarly, referring to chairman of the technical committee on water resources ANG Abbasi, he said a person was granted the status of the federal minister when he refused to become chairman of the water committee without the status of the minister.

Another PPP senator, Dr Akbar Khawaja, alleged that NCHD Chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf was running an NGO and enjoying the status of the minister despite not having taken any oath.

Both Law Minister Wasi Zafar and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sher Afgan quoted from the Rules of Business of the Government 1973 under which they claimed the prime minister had the powers to frame certain rules.

However, opposition senators and Mr Bhinder were not satisfied with the reply and questioned the source of the power under which the prime minister had acquired the powers.

It may be mentioned that during the last session of the Senate, Federal Minister for Education Lt-Gen (Retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi had stated that his ministry had no control over the HEC which was an independent body and the HEC chairman being an adviser to the prime minister should come to the house and respond to the questions related to the HEC.

People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) Senator Dr Akbar Khawaja said as the HEC chairman could not attend the session, therefore, the replies to the questions related to the HEC should be given by the education minister.

At this point, Law Minister Wasi Zafar took the floor and said that the HEC fell under the jurisdiction of the Cabinet Division and Dr Sher Afgan should respond to the HEC-related questions being in charge of the division.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan said it was not in his knowledge that the HEC was under his ministry, however, he said, he was ready to give replies to the questions.