Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Tuesday sought the list of officers absorbed in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) despite working on deputation.

The committee met under the chair of Senator Javed Abbasi and was attended by Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid, Leader of Opposition in Senate, Aitzaz Ahsan, Farooq H Neak, Saeed Ghani, Saleem Zia, Muhammad Ali Saif, Ayesha Raza Farooq and Law and Justice Secretary Nyla Quershi. Senior officials from the National Accountability Bureau also attended the meeting. Farooq H Neak said that the committee would examine the matter according to law and in the light of the decision of the Supreme Court after receiving a complete list of officers absorbed in the bureau despite working on deputation. A copy of the NAB rules has already been provided to the Senate Committee and now the committee will discuss the matter in accordance with the provisions of the law, he added. Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid informed that the government had stopped the practice of giving current and acting charges to officer in the Bureau, which was so common earlier. He said the ministry has issued directives to all the government departments to stop this practice and sought data from the establishment division of such officers who were working on deputation.

Zahid Hamid informed the committee that the ministry has also moved a summary to the prime minister for the regularisation of the current and acting charge of the NAB officers.

He said that the decision of current and acting charge was been taken due to the shortage of officers in the department adding that in the past NAB was working under the Cabinet Ministry but during the last government it was brought under the Ministry of Law and Justice.

The issue had been referred to the committee by Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani when Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) parliamentary leader Saeed Ghani informed the House that some NAB officials, who had earlier been working on acting charge in higher scales in violation of rules, had now been re-appointed on “Own Pay Scale (OPS) basis”.

Senator Saeed Ghani said that a couple of officers of the bureau had been working as director generals on current charge basis for more than a period of three month adding that solution of all the problems is available in the parameters of law but NAB is ridiculing its own laws.