LAHORE, Sept 2: The finance committee is the only standing committee of Punjab Assembly that has formulated its rules of procedure during the last 56 years, and the committees have been working according to conventions.

This was stated by PA privileges committee chairman Nazar Fareed Khokhar at a meeting with reporters here on Tuesday.

He said that framing rules for the committee and defining privileges and breaches and powers of the body topped his list of priorities.

He said the committee would invite law and assembly secretaries on Sept 18 for a briefing on past practices and political aspects of its working. Later, some private legal experts would be invited for informing members about a good inquiry procedure, he added.

Former PA speakers like Hanif Ramay and Anwar Bhindar and ex-chairmen of the privilege committees would also be requested to brief members on the working of the body.

Answering a question, he said the privilege motions on the use of torture by police against 27 opposition MPAs on the premises of the Punjab Assembly would be taken up soon. However, the process would be completed in over a year as the body could not meet more than twice a month, he added.

Replying to another question, he said the committee was authorized to penalize an official found guilty in an inquiry, just like the hiring authority.

He told a questioner that if the provincial government felt that summoning an official or some record was against public interest or could create a law or order situation, it could grant immunity to the official or seal the record.

He said the committee would also recommend to the government to enact a law about suspending the official concerned when a case of breach of privilege was prima facie found valid by the house before being referred to the committee.