ISLAMABAD: Despite several warnings by the Public Accounts Committee, the registrar of Supreme Court on Tuesday again refused to appear before the parliamentary panel and sent deputy registrar Syed Sher Afgan to respond to its concerns.

“I am directed to state that the matter is pending adjudication before implementation bench. No person, authority or department can interfere in pending matter. Moreover, the registrar of this court in his capacity as the principal accounting officer is not obliged to appear before the Public Accounts Committee as decided by the full court in its meeting dated January 20, 2010,” the SC registrar said in a letter to the PAC.

All the members took offence to the tone of the letter and termed it “arrogant”, “violation of the Constitution” and insult to the parliamentary committee.

The PAC, which met again to discuss appropriation accounts of apex court, learnt that the SC had not convened a single meeting of department accounts committee (DAC).

Repeatedly expressing displeasure over his continuous absence, the PAC issued one last warning to the SC registrar to appear before its members to respond to queries about denying the office of the Auditor General access to financial records.

“If the deputy registrar could show up, the SC registrar could also have come. This is not personal. PAC reserves the right to seek a complete record from the authorities concerned to check the irregularities and embezzlement in respective departments,” PAC chairman Noor Alam Khan asserted.

MNA Sheikh Rohale Asghar called for making defiance of the registrar an exemplary case.

However, Mushahid Hussain Syed urged Mr Khan to give a final chance to the registrar.

While the PAC denied SC deputy registrar a chance to speak on behalf of his superior, Mr Khan asked him to convey to the CJP, “If the Principal Accounting Officer of the SC continues to defy directions of PAC, a precedent will be set and all other departments will also refuse to cooperate.”

Fund collection

The PAC chairman noted that the audit of Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams were necessary to determine how the funds were managed. It was also important to establish, if then CJP Saqib Nisar was authorised to open a new account to collect money for construction of dams.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2023