Ad hoc PAC finally dissolved

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The caretaker government has finally dissolved the controversial ad hoc Public Accounts Committee (PAC) it set up in December last year to scrutinise audit reports on government accounts in absence of a parliament.

The dissolution follows allegations that the military-backed administration had violated the constitution by forming the public accounts body.

Through a notification, the finance ministry has recently cancelled the one it issued on December 18 forming the 11-member ad hoc PAC that could not start functioning due to objections from different quarters including the speaker of parliament.

Wishing not to be named, a senior finance ministry official yesterday told The Daily Star, “The committee has been cancelled the way it was formed.”

In the first place it should not have been formed since the constitution does not allow anyone other than an elected parliament to form a public accounts body, he added.

According to a World Bank press release issued Sunday, the caretaker government is assessing alternative arrangements like commissioning a high-powered advisory committee for the interim period.

The proposed committee would also assist the PAC under the next parliament to ease backlog of reports from the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) office.

A World Bank team has recently visited the country and held a series of discussions with government officials on ways to form a committee composed of non-parliamentarians.

Finance Adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam yesterday said he did not know whether the World Bank has made any formal proposal to that end. “We will look into the matter on receiving an official proposal,” he told reporters.

Acting on World Bank’s advice, the office of CAG in July last year had suggested that the finance ministry form an ad hoc PAC comprised of former judges, government officials, academics, and politicians.

It however noted that the law ministry should be consulted as the matter might have constitutional implications.

Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar had been opposing the move from the outset.

Despite objections, the law ministry okayed the proposal and an ad hoc PAC was formed with the then law adviser Mainul Hosein at its helm. The committee included three incumbent government secretaries.

The last PAC was disbanded with dissolution of the eighth parliament on October 27 last year.

Since then, the number of unresolved audit reports involving hundreds of crores of taka and cases of retired government officials not getting their pensions due to unsettled objections has been on the rise.

Besides, recovery of public money that might have been misappropriated has also been stalled.

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