ISLAMABAD: The speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Ayaz Sadiq, formed a special committee on Friday to investigate allegation of tax evasion by MNAs.

The committee comprising 10 parliamentarians was formed on the basis of a resolution tabled by Asad Umar of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and adopted by the lower house on

April 8.

Sources in the assembly secretariat told Dawn that allegations about tax evasion had been levelled against a number of MNAs belonging to both treasury and the opposition.

“The special committee has been mandated to investigate the allegations of non-payment of taxes by the members and submit its report to the house in 90 days,” the assembly’s Deputy Director (media) Mehboob Ali Gurmani said in a press release.

He said the speaker had constituted the committee under rule 244(B) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 2007.

The committee comprises MNAs Mohammad Pervaiz Malik, Omar Ayub Khan, Rana Mohammad Afzal Khan, Mian Abdul Mannan, Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh, Sheikh Rohail Asghar, Shazia Marri, Asad Umar, Abdul Rashid Godil and Asiya Nasir.

The resolution was supported in the assembly by members from both the opposition and treasury benches.

But some MNAs opposed it and said that income tax was deducted from their salaries before payments were made to them.

PML-N’s Rohail Asghar Sheikh and Abdul Mannan opposed the motion and said that income tax was deducted at source.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif backed the motion and said that there should be accountability of parliamentarians but under a certain framework.

Although the committee has been formed, differences may crop up at the time of setting of its terms of reference.

It was suggested in the house that the terms should be framed with the assistance of the Federal Board of Revenue, the National Database Registration Authority and independent experts or organisations.

It was also stated that those who had failed to file tax returns on time could be asked to pay default charges under Article 205 of Income Tax Ordinance 2001. Article 182 of the Constitution can be invoked for imposing penalty on late filers.

It was proposed that since the lawmakers themselves imposed taxes, those among them who failed to file returns should be prosecuted under Article 191 f the Constitution for setting a bad example for others.

The article envisages a maximum punishment of one year.