ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Monday received a list containing particulars of the employees of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The members deferred discussion on the issue of illegal appointments in the bureau due to late presentation of the list.

The members of the committee, headed by Javed Abbasi of the PML-N, protested and criticised NAB for presenting the working paper late and thus not providing them the time to go through it.

Former law minister Farooq Naek said there was no use of having a discussion on the matter without studying the reply given by NAB in response to questions raised by members during previous meetings.

The committee’s chairman also expressed disapproval of NAB’s act of delay in presentation of the working paper and deferred discussion till the next meeting.

The meeting had been convened to discuss the appointments of senior officers in NAB in violation of rules, besides taking up two private member’s bills, including one dealing with the appointment of judges of superior courts.

The committee, however, deferred discussion on the two bills due to absence of the movers.

The issue of appointments in NAB had been referred to the committee by Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani on June 14, when PPP’s Saeed Ghani informed the house that some NAB officials, who had earlier been working on “acting and current charges” in higher scales in violation of rules, were now reappointed on an “Own Pay Scale (OPS) basis”.

Current and acting charges

Mr Ghani had alleged that the NAB chairman, through a letter on May 20, had first recalled all those people who had been given “current and acting charges” on higher grades and later on the same day, he issued another notification appointing them again on OPS basis.

At the last meeting of the committee on June 21, Law Minister Zahid Hamid had admitted that a number of NAB officers had been appointed on acting or current charges in higher grades in violation of the rules.

The minister told the committee that not only in NAB, but the malpractice of appointing officers on acting or current charges for a period of more than three months was going on in other departments and ministries as well.

Mr Ghani, who is also a member of the law and justice committee, had stated that under the rules no officer could be given acting or current charge for more than three months.

He said that extension to any officer for a period of more than three months could only be given after approval of the prime minister.

Mr Ghani alleged that there were a number of officers in NAB who had been working on acting or current charges for more than a year in violation of rules. He said these officers were reappointed on the same position for another 90 days after a gap of two or three days.

The PPP senator alleged that the NAB chairman, who had powers to file references against the prime minister and ministers, was himself misusing his powers by appointing officers without permission of the prime minister.

While referring the matter to the committee, the Senate chairman had observed that such a joke with the law was intolerable and incomprehensible.

The PPP senator had sought details of the officers in BPS-20 and 21 working in NAB and asked, “Is it a fact that the NAB chairman has the power to post officers in BPS-20 against the post of BPS-21 for three months?”

The then law minister, Pervaiz Rashid, had stated that as per law, the NAB chairman was competent to grant current charge to BS-20 officers against the post of BPS-21 for three months. He had further stated that extension beyond three months in current charge required approval of “next higher authority, i.e. government”.

Mr Ghani pointed out a couple of officers who had been working as directors general on “current charge basis” for more than three months.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2016